New Assisted Human Reproduction law finally secures children born via surrogacy’s lifelong relationship with parents – Seery Kearney

The passing into law of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill today gives certainty for families who have waited a long time for legal recognition of their parent child relationships, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Senator Mary Seery-Kearney has welcomed the legal framework contained within the legislation for both domestic and international surrogacy, adding that it also provides the essential oversight architecture for fertility treatment in Ireland, paving the way for publicly funded fertility treatment in public medical facilities.

She explained: “The Bill establishes the Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority which will:

• License fertility clinics.
• Oversee and enforce the strict statutory provisions regarding gamete and embryo storage, research and testing.
• Administer both the National Donor Conceived Person Register and the National Surrogacy Register.
• Ensure transparency and access to information for all children born through assisted human reproduction both in Ireland and abroad.

“It is nearly 19 years since the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction first recommended the establishment of a regulatory authority and that we legislate for surrogacy. Many children have been born in the interim via surrogacy and have been in the precarious position that only their biological fathers are their recognised 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 18^th birthday they become legal strangers to their parents.

“Future surrogacy plans will have to be authorised by the Regulatory Authority, ensuring that both the surrogate mother and intending parents have independent legal advice, counselling and support before entering into a surrogacy arrangement in a clinic and country that must uphold human rights, and where the surrogate mother gives her consent post the birth of the child.

“Ireland is now the first country to legislate for a framework that enshrines the Verona Principles, which are internationally recognised and set out by the International Social Services organisation, a UN recognised organisation, which ensures that an ethical surrogacy is undertaken in the best interests of any child or children born.

“Crucially, this Bill also provides that the parents of those children already born via surrogacy can apply to the High Court for parental orders to secure their lifelong relationship with their children.

“I first submitted an email about surrogacy to the then Minister for Health Leo Varadkar in March 2014. For me, today is a culmination of 10 years of painstaking advocacy to bring about a legal framework to protect the rights and enforce the responsibilities of everyone involved in a surrogacy journey; the child, the surrogate mother, and the intended parents. Applications for parental orders, including my own, will hopefully commence this autumn and the comfort and relief this gives to families is immeasurable.”