The Assisted Human Reproduction Coalition has described a comment by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly about legislating for International Surrogacy as "extremely disappointing" and "hurtful".
Minister Donnelly made the comment in the Seanad on Wednesday when he was asked about the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill.
The Bill aims to ensure that Assisted Human Reproduction practices such as In vitro fertilization (IVF), Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and related areas of research are conducted in a more consistent and standardised way, with necessary oversight.
The Committee on International Surrogacy was established earlier this year to examine the inclusion of International Surrogacy into the Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) Bill and given 12 weeks to complete its work.
Minister Donnelly said the AHR Bill was paused for the special committee to be established to look at the issue.
However, he said "we cannot indefinitely pause the AHR Bill".
The Assisted Human Reproduction Coalition which includes Irish Families Through Surrogacy, Equality for Children, the National Infertility & Support Network Group, Irish Gay Dads, the Independent Living Movement of Ireland and LGBT Ireland described the comment as "particularly disingenuous".
In a statement, the group said that the Report for the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction was established in 2005 and that the AHR Bill was first issued in 2017.
Therefore, it said the Special Joint Oireachtas Committee which was given a 12-week timeframe, was not responsible for delaying the Bill.
"The bill as it stands already discriminates against children born domestically and internationally with the lack of retrospective recognition of Irish children already born. There is much work to be done so that it is fit for purpose," it said.
Since its first public meeting in April, the Oireachtas Committee has heard from parents of surrogate children, surrogate mothers, legal experts, academics and the Special Rapporteur for Child Protection, Prof Conor O'Mahony.
The Assisted Human Reproduction Coalition said it made "countless attempts" to meet and engage with Minister Donnelly both as a coalition and as individual member organisations, to no avail.
"We have constantly received radio silence from the minister and can only take that, along with his comments in the Seanad, to speak loudly to the fact that he does not care about our children's equality and rights or care to take the step that has been given widespread support by witnesses from every expert view that international surrogacy needs to be included in this bill."
In the Seanad, Minister Donnelly acknowledged that surrogacy needed to be addressed domestically and internationally adding that if it could be accommodated within the current Bill, it would be.
However, he qualified that by saying the Bill "couldn't be indefinitely postponed while it awaited an amendment".
"Amending legislation can be brought at any time. We can pass a Bill and make it an Act, amend that Act, bring in a different Act or amend on Committee Stage. It is in the hands of the committee as to where that goes," he said.
Fine Gael Senator Mary Seery Kearney, who is a member of the International Surrogacy Committee, accused the minister of being "disingenuous with people who desperately need that legislation".
The minister said it was "not remotely disingenuous".
He said it was "clearly agreed" that the special committee would take 12 weeks and report back with proposed amendments.
"We have stopped the Bill to wait for and accommodate that process. That has been agreed. The special committee has been set up and is meeting.
"We have paused the Bill and are waiting to hear back from the committee after 12 weeks. That is the process that has been agreed.
"Let us see where that takes us. Both domestic and international surrogacy need to be addressed. It is just a question of timing and sequencing," he said.
In April, representatives of the Department of Health who were before the committee indicated an eagerness to get the AHR bill through the Oireachtas before the summer recess.
Urgency of Bill questioned
A number of committee members questioned the urgency of the bill, given its existence since 2017.
Department of Health officials said it was never intended that the AHR Bill would address international surrogacy.
They said while the committee's conclusions would be supported, the AHR Bill was about regulating "domestic healthcare" and given the complexity of international surrogacy, they could not see the committee's conclusions being legislated for in the AHR bill.
In an ideal world, it would be accommodated, they said.
Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health Muiris O'Connor clarified that the department was not saying that the issue of international surrogacy was not urgent, but the path forward for international surrogacy was not clear cut.
He also pointed out that like other EU countries, Ireland is struggling to determine how to provide for this kind of legislation.
On the 25 April, the Minister for Health confirmed that his department planned to fund IVF fertility treatment for public patients in 2023.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) falls under the AHR Bill.
Sources say that the minister may be keen to see the AHR Bill passed through the Oireachtas urgently, to ensure that funding for IVF will be realised, while he holds the health brief.
