Irish Government Drops Surrogacy from Family Law Reform

Irish Government has removed provisions on surrogacy from family law in the country, including proposals to prohibit sperm and egg donation.

An earlier version of the bill, published by the former minister for justice, included the prohibition of commercial surrogacy and proposals for the parental orders for intended parents, who currently apply for adoption or guardianship over children through surrogacy.

The current Minister for justice published a revised version of the bill in last week, in which surrogacy provisions had been removed. It is particularly problematic to finalize provisions on surrogacy expected by the Irish Supreme Court on the matter given the constitutional rights between a birth mother and genetic mother.

Supreme Court heard an appeal by the Irish government last February against a decision to allow genetic mother of twins born to a surrogate to be recognized as the children’s legal parent. The court said the matter raised significant issues and reserved its decision, which is expected next month. Michael McDowell Sc had argued in the case that any changes to the law on motherhood should be made by the Irish parliament, and not in the courts.

A commission set up by the government, and also a government advisor, there is currently no legislation governing surrogacy in Ireland. The birth mother is considered to be child’s legal parent.

Supreme Court’s decision on the issue is still pending, but added that critical issues needing to be resolved on commercial surrogacy and the rights of surrogate-born children.

To preserve a child’s right to know his or her identity, recommended by the joint Oireachtas committee by the Ombudsman for children, has been added to the bill, which sets up a national donor conceived person register and prohibits anonymous sperm and egg donation.

In this scheme it requires clinics and hospitals to provide details of donors and children to a national register. The key issue is to enable a child to know his or her identity. This is an important step to in recognizing the rights of the children to access information concerning their genetic identity.

This bill also extends the right of adoption to same-sex civil partners and has been revised couples in some circumstances. Government’s intention is that bill would be enacted in early 2015.