Government drops surrogacy plans from overhaul of family law

The Government has dropped plans to legislate for surrogacy as part of an overhaul of family law. The general scheme of the Children and Family Relationships Bill, a wide-ranging reform package published earlier this year by then minister for justice Alan Shatter, set out plans to ban commercial surrogacy and clarify the rights of children born to a surrogate.

In a revised version of the scheme, published yesterday by Mr Shatter's successor Frances Fitzgerald, surrogacy has been removed altogether.

Ms Fitzgerald said this was because a Supreme Court decision on the issue was pending and there were "critical issues needing to be resolved". She added that more policy work and consultation were required on the issue.

The Bill, designed to take account of the growing complexity and diversity of modern families, proposes key changes to the laws on adoption, custody and assisted human reproduction. Whereas existing laws state that only married couples or sole applicants can seek to adopt a child, the scheme published earlier this year extended the right to adopt to same-sex civil partners.

The latest version of the scheme goes further, by allowing cohabiting couples who have been living together for three years in a committed relationship to adopt children jointly.

Ms Fitzgerald said it would be easier for unmarried fathers to become guardians automatically if they lived with the child’s mother for 12 months, including at least three months following a child’s birth. “This should particularly benefit young unmarried fathers who may not be in a position to live with their child’s mother for 12 months before the child’s birth,” she said.

Another addition to the draft law, which was approved by the Government this week, is a provision to allow a donor-conceived child to trace his or her identity.

Under the proposals, clinics and hospitals would be required to provide details of donors and children to a national register. As a result, future use of anonymous donor eggs or sperm would be banned.

The provisions on guardianship have also been modified. Step-parents and a parent’s cohabiting partner will be able to apply to become a child’s guardian if he/she has shared caring responsibilities for the child for over two years.

However, this guardianship will generally be limited to day-to-day decisions so as to safeguard the rights of a parent who is also a guardian to take strategic decisions on issues such as a child’s residence, religion or education. In a further change, courts will have the option to appoint a “child’s views expert” to ascertain the views of the child in guardianship, custody and access cases.

The first draft of the Bill was published last February on the eve of a Supreme Court appeal by the State against a High Court decision that the genetic parents of twins born to a surrogate were entitled to be registered on the birth certificates as their legal parents.