Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 October 2021
510. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Health when legislation will be delivered to provide legal recognition to both parents who have children through surrogacy either in Ireland or abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49342/21]
View answer513. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Health if his proposals regarding legislation for parents who have children through surrogacy will include provision for maternity leave for mothers, a streamlined service that ensures that both parents are legally recognised as such, retrospect parentage for those mothers who have been granted just guardianship to date and measures to reduce the substantial legal costs involved for the parents concerned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49352/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 510 and 513 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, drafting of a bill on assisted human reproduction (AHR) and associated areas of research is ongoing by Department of Health officials, in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General. This comprehensive and far-reaching piece of legislation encompasses the regulation for the first time of a wide range of practices undertaken in this jurisdiction, including domestic altruistic surrogacy.
The surrogacy provisions of the Bill outline the specific conditions under which surrogacy in Ireland will be permitted, including a requirement for all surrogacy agreements to be pre-authorised by the new AHR Regulatory Authority. The legislation also sets out a court-based mechanism through which the parentage of a child born through surrogacy may be transferred from the surrogate to the intending parent(s).
Publication of the AHR Bill is a priority for the Department and the Government, and a commitment to enact this legislation is included in the Programme for Government, “Our Shared Future”. This Department and the Office of the Attorney General will continue to engage intensively over the next few months to finalise this complex legislation.
Responsibility for maternity leave comes under the remit of the Minister of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and that Department has informed my officials that legislative changes in respect of all forms of family leave must be developed in the context of the legal situation concerning parentage, including in relation to surrogacy. My officials have also been informed that some forms of family leave may currently be available to commissioning parents, including parental leave and parent’s leave. However, any further queries relating to maternity leave should be directed to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
The question of whether provision should be made for the retrospective assignment of parentage in respect of children already born through surrogacy arrangements raises complex legal issues which will require detailed examination.
As Minister for Health, I have no role in the matter of the level of legal costs which may be incurred in relation to the undertaking of an individual surrogacy agreement or any court applications arising from such an arrangement. I am of the view that matters of such importance as the determination of the parentage of a child born through surrogacy should be decided by an appropriate court.
Issues which arise from the undertaking of surrogacy arrangements in other jurisdictions raise important questions in respect of rights and ethics, and concern areas of law that intersect across the remits of several Government Departments. This Department is engaging with the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in respect of this policy area, including at Ministerial level.
