Senator calls for donor-assisted reproduction to be restricted

There were heated exchanges in the Seanad over proposals that donor-assisted human reproduction should be confined to married mother-and-father couples.

Fianna Fáil Senator Jim Walsh, who resigned the party whip over his opposition to the Children and Family Relationships Bill, which updates family law, said his proposal was "done in the best interests of the child".

Mr Walsh, who opposes some 35 sections of the legislation, said restricting assisted reproduction was what a number of European countries did and “would give maximum protection to the welfare rights, needs and interests of donor-conceived children”.

Social advance

Independents Rónán Mullen and Feargal Quinn proposed similar amendments, but Independent

David Norris

said that through these proposals the Senators also “oppose marriage equality, they opposed civil partnership, they oppose just about bloody everything that marks a social advance”.

Mr Norris said: “Some 36 per cent of the births in this country are now outside marriage. What are they doing about them? Are they all rotten? Are they all wrong? Are they all defective in some way?”

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald, who introduced the legislation, said it dealt with some of the parentage aspects in respect of assisted human reproduction.

But broader legislation on this and on donor-assisted reproduction was under preparation by the Department of Health.

Definition of family

The Bill extends the definition of family and its provisions also include the extension of guardianship and adoption rights to new categories, including same-sex couples. It also updates the law to bring clarity to the status of children born by donor-assisted methods, and of their parents.

Ms Fitzgerald said that “from a public policy perspective, we are now making it clear that consent issues are important, as well as access to genetic information”.

The Government’s approach was in line with many jurisdictions, including certain Australian states, Sweden and Canad, the Minister said.

Mr Walsh said he was introducing his amendment to confine it to married male and female couples because “insisting that the intending parents be married would ensure that they are able to provide a child with a stable environment and are legally committed to each other as mother and father”.