A new Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority (AHRRA) has been established by the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
The legislation will aim to protect the rights of all parties involved in assisted human reproduction, including parents, donors, and children born through these technologies.
Chairperson of Irish Gay DadsSeamus Kearney Martone said the legislation will ultimately mean that both parents of children born through surrogacy will have the same legal rights to their child.
“At the moment, as it stands, particularly for same sex male couples who’ve gone through the surrogacy process, only the biological father is currently recognised as the parent of the child,” he told Lunchtime Live.
“For my son, who’s one-and-a-half, only his biological father has a legal relationship.
“So, his non-biological dad currently has no legal relationship.
“The legislation will allow for the non-biological parents to apply for the same declaration of parentage as the biological parent does.”
Girl shopping with gay parents. Image: Igor Mojzes / Alamy. 9 September 2018Mr Martone said that while he would welcome “any progress forward”, affected groups feel that things aren’t moving as fast as they would like.
“The parts [of the legislation] that have been established are directly for the establishment of the board only,” he said.
“So, while that is a welcome move, there are many other moving parts at the same time.
“We’ve been told that the legislation in its current form is not fit for purpose, and for that reason, the Department of Health are currently working on an amending piece of legislation.
“We would have been told historically [that] would be published in June [or] July, and we still haven’t seen it.”
Representation
According to Mr Martone, there is also a feeling of disappointment among LGBT groups that they have not been represented through membership on the regulatory authority board.
Former senator Mary Seery Kearney, who is a mother via surrogacy, said that while she is not privy to how the board was appointed, her understanding is that the process is still ongoing.
“You need a board in place to actually conduct the interviews of the CEO process,” she said.
“Then once that CEO is in place, then we have an actual regulatory authority.
“I would envisage that certainly the final parts of this legislation should be commenced by February of next year.
“That’s allowed for the passage of the amending legislation, which includes and attends to all of those issues.”
Main image: Surrogacy
