Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has announced that a historic piece of legislation providing a legal framework for surrogacy in Ireland has passed both Houses of the Oireachtas.
Donnelly said the far-reaching Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 will encompass regulation for a wide range of practices, including gamete and embryo donation for assisted human reproduction (AHR).
It also covers domestic altruistic surrogacy; pre-implantation genetic testing of embryos; posthumous-assisted human reproduction; and embryo and stem cell research.
The law has been in the making for around 20 years and will regulate domestic and international surrogacy as well as licensing fertility clinics and treatment. Ireland had been one of two EU member states not to have a regulatory system in place.
The legislation, described as "critical" by Donnelly, covers fertility treatments for couples as well as single people living in Ireland.
The legislation will also provide that any person providing AHR treatment within the State must hold a license granted by the Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority (AHRRA), a body to be established by this Act.
Donnelly acknowledged that AHR is a "complex, innovative, and fast-moving area of medicine" and said the issues covered by the bill have been subject to much discussion, including by the Special Oireachtas Joint Committee on International Surrogacy.
"I have listened to individuals, to families, and to experts in this field and I know that this legislation means so much to so many," Donnelly said in a statement.
"This is a critical, historic, and ground-breaking piece of legislation. It will introduce, for the first time in this country, a regulatory framework for assisted human reproduction.
"This legislation will support people who wish to have children through AHR. It will clarify the legal position of those children and provide an ethical framework for research and new reproductive technologies.
"One of the most important features of the Bill is to allow for the establishment of an independent regulatory authority for AHR, the Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority. The new rules, regulations, and provisions of this legislation will provide clarity and peace of mind."
The Bill will now be referred to President Michael D. Higgins for signature and enacted into law as soon as possible.
Fine Gael Senator Mary Seery Kearney, welcomed passage of the legislation and said it would provide legal recognition of parent-child relationships.
"Many children have been born in the interim via surrogacy and have been in the precarious position that only their biological fathers are their recognized parents in Irish law. Their mothers, or in the case of same-sex male couples, second fathers, have no standing other than guardianship. This means that on a child’s 18th birthday, they become legal strangers to their parents."
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