Tag: Ireland

Ireland, Surrogacy

Ireland – Babies could be handed over to parents in car parks under ‘flawed’ proposed surrogate laws

Intended Parents

Source Independent

Proposals to regulate surrogacy run the risk of leaving new parents being handed over a baby in a hospital car park, the Oireachtas health committee has heard.

Dr Deirdre Madden, of the School of Law in Cork, was commenting on the General Scheme of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill 2017, which plans to legislate for fertility and related treatments.

She said the proposals in relation to surrogacy should be changed.
Parents who are using a surrogate to have a child for them should be given legal rights during pregnancy, she said.
The law proposes it happens after birth.

This could lead to hospitals not allowing the handover of the child by the birth mother to the new parents in the hospital, and there have been reports of this transfer in car parks in some cases in the UK, she said.

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Donor Eggs, Ireland

Ireland – Baby boomers: The rise of older mums

Intended Parents

Source Irish Examiner

SUSAN never imagined she’d be a first-time mum aged 50. “I thought I’d be preparing for retirement, not changing nappies and dealing with night feeds,” laughs the now 53-year-old from Co Meath.

She is one of an increasing number of women having babies in their sixth decade. In 2007, only four women in Ireland had babies in their 50s but by 2015 — the year Susan’s daughter Niamh was born – that figure had risen to 16. A further 17 babies were born to women in their 50s in Ireland last year.

These figures are small but they are growing, thanks to breakthroughs in reproductive medicine.

In Ireland, women are increasingly spending their 20s focussing on education and their 30s building careers and searching for suitable partners. Inevitably, some face fertility issues when the time is finally right for babies.

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Egg Freezing, Ireland

Ireland – Should You Freeze Your Eggs – Or Is     The £10,000 Procedure A Rip-Off?

Intended Parents

Source Huffington Post

Sarah Bagg was 38 when she decided to freeze her eggs. “I’d kind of always thought, like a lot of women do, that I was going to have kids and it was all going to happen naturally,” she explains. Then, three years ago, after the breakdown of a longterm relationship, she decided she needed to take steps to preserve her fertility. “It was kind of part of my own healing process as well as being able to put a plan into action,” she says. “I went in for a consultation and when I came out, I just knew that I had to do it.”

The business development and marketing manager from Brighton, now 41, is one of a growing number of women freezing their eggs in the UK. The latest figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates fertility treatment in the UK, show that since 2010, egg freezing has risen every year; in 2016, there were 1,173 egg freezing cycles completed – a 10% increase from the year before.

Donor Eggs, donor sperm, Ireland, Uncategorized

Ireland – ‘Hello, my beautiful donor baby’: The Irish people becoming parents with donor eggs and sperm

Intended Parents

Source Her

Do you know a couple who have experienced fertility problems?

Lots of us would probably say yes – but do you know anyone who has conceived a baby via donor sperm or egg?
Chances are you do.

As a nation, we’re beginning to strip back the veil of secrecy that once hung over infertility and assisted reproduction – but the last taboo may be the thousands of Irish babies that have been born with the help of a donor.

There are no official figures for Ireland but according to Dr Florencia Steinvarcel of Dublin’s Sims Clinic, around 40 per cent of the people who have IVF treatment there use a donor sperm or egg.

Dr Simon Fishel, founder of Beacon CARE Fertility, meanwhile estimates that 5,000 to 7,000 people a year travel abroad from Ireland and the UK just for egg donations.

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Ireland, Surrogacy

Irish surrogacy rates are world’s second-highest

Intended Parents

Source The Times

Ireland has been found to have the second-highest rate of surrogacy use, according to a survey involving 90 countries. The Irish government is planning to ban all commercial surrogacy as part of its Assisted Human Reproduction Bill.

The survey — carried out last year by Families Through Surrogacy (FTS), an international non-profit organisation that supports couples going through the process — reveals Ireland is second only to Israel in the rate of use of surrogacy.

Families Through Surrogacy based its finding on the answers given by 30 agencies in nine countries dealing with clients from 90 nations. It found that 68% of surrogacies carried out for Irish couples took place in Ukraine.

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Infertility, Ireland

Ireland – What are your options?

Intended Parents

Source Independent

Sometimes the cause of infertility is difficult to diagnose, writes Áilín Quinlan. But there are tests available and steps you can take if you are finding it difficult to conceive

You’ve been struggling to conceive, and your GP has now advised you to explore your options in terms of fertility treatment.

One of the first things you need to realise is that your age is crucial and time may be of the essence when it comes to pregnancy and birth emphasises Dr Hans Arce, Medical Director of the Repromed fertility clinic in Dublin.

“The main limiting factor in fertility is the age of the woman,” he says.

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Ireland, Parental rights, Same Sex

Outdated Irish passports laws mean gay couple’s son denied

Intended Parents

Source Irish Central


An Irish-Canadian couple are outraged after being denied an Irish passport for their young son.

Jay O’Callaghan and Aaron O’Bryan told a local news channel that they will not be granted an Irish passport for their son Jake unless they identify the child’s biological father. Doing so would leave the other with no parental rights in Ireland.

The Toronto-based couple said that they both provided sperm to fertilize the donor egg that was implanted in the surrogate who gave birth to their son.

The couple chose not to find out whose genetic material was passed on to Jake.

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Ireland, Parental rights, Same Sex

Ireland – I’m Not Recognised As My Da0ughter’s Mother Due To ‘Modern’ Irish Family Law’

Intended Parents

Source Extra.ie

A family have been left devastated after discovering that a law due this autumn will not grant them equal parental rights — even though their daughter is nearly two-years-old.

Same-sex couple Bex, 48, and Steffi Payne, 28, are based in Roscommon and Steffi gave birth to daughter Ava as a result of home insemination in September 2016.

When setting out on the journey to start a family, the couple decided to go down the route of using donor sperm to help them conceive.

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Ireland, Parental rights, Same Sex

Ireland – Same sex couples to be allowed to register names on child’s passport and birth cert

Intended Parents

Source Irish Times

Bill to fix drafting errors in 2015 Act will also ban anonymous sperm, egg donations

Same sex parents will finally be able to register both their names on their child’s birth certificate after the introduction of a Bill to amend drafting errors in previous legislation.

The Children and Family Relationships (Amendment) Bill will also ban anonymous sperm and egg donation in fertility treatment and will allow children born through donor assisted human reproduction access to their genetic heritage once they turn 18.

Provisions for the ban and a register to allow children access to their personal family information were contained in the Children and Family Relationships Act passed in 2015

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Anonymous, Ireland, Sperm Donation

Ireland – Anonymous sperm and eggs to be banned by autumn

Intended Parents

Source Irish Times

The Irish Fertility Society, which represents clinics, consultants and scientists working in the sector, has expressed strong opposition to both pieces of legislation.

Anonymous sperm and egg donation in fertility treatment is set to be banned by next autumn on foot of revised legislation due to be introduced shortly, Minister for Health Simon Harris has confirmed.

Provision for a ban and for the creation of a register to allow donor-conceived children obtain personal family information once they turn 18 was contained in 2015 Children and Family Relationships Act. But the minister at the time did not commence enactment of parts two and three of the legislation which would have brought the measures into force immediately.

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Ireland, LGBTQ Parental Rights, Surrogacy

Ireland – ‘How can I move home when Irish law does not recognise I am my son’s father?’

Intended Parents

Source Irish Times
Parents who have had children by surrogacy are put off returning because of a legal limbo

After tens of thousands of dollars spent on IVF over three years, Jay O’Callaghan and his husband, Aaron O’Bryan, became a family in 2017 when their son, Jake, was born through surrogacy in Toronto, where the couple have lived for seven years.

On Jake’s Canadian birth certificate, both O’Callaghan and O’Bryan are listed as his parents, but under current Irish family law, neither has any legal rights over their son.

In Ireland, the surrogate mother and her husband would be considered Jake’s legal parents, even though she has no biological connection to Jake – a donor egg was used – and relinquished all rights.

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Anonymity, Ireland, Sperm Donation

Ireland – Sperm donors will not be able to remain anonymous

Intended Parents

Source Independent News

People who donate sperm, eggs or an embryo for use by infertile couples will no longer be able to remain anonymous and will have to provide personal information for a register.

The disclosure will be enforced under the Children and Family Relationships Act, and will mean children conceived in this way will know both their parents.

The plan is to set up a register with all the individual donor’s details, according to the Department of Health.
Some fertility clinics here objected to the provision, saying it would lead to a fall-off in donors.

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Ireland, IVF

Ireland – Thousands of Irish couples will no longer need to travel to Spain for IVF treatment

Intended Parents

Source xxx xxx

E new programme will mean that many Irish patients choosing to undergo IVF will no longer have to travel for treatment using anonymous donated eggs.

Fertility centre, Institut Marquès, is one of the first to allow people to remotely carry out In Vitro fertilisation with donor eggs.

The programme will mean the embryos will be the ones travelling to potential mothers in countries such as Italy and Ireland.

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Egg Donor, Ireland

Ireland – ‘Remote’ IVF allows use of anonymous donor eggs without travel

Intended Parents

Source Irish Times

Anonymous sperm and egg donation is expected to be banned in Ireland, once the Minister for Health commences enactment of Parts 2 and 3 of the 2015 Children and Family Relationships Act, which allows for parentage through donor-assisted human reproduction. File image: PA

Irish women undergoing fertility treatment can now avail of anonymously donated eggs for use in IVF without having to travel abroad, according to an international clinic which has facilities in Ireland.

The Institut Marquès, which has clinics in Dublin and Clane, Co Kildare, says it has developed a new programme which will allow patients to avoid travelling and to “remotely” carry out IVF with donor eggs.

The institute is to present the initial results of its “distance oocyte donation” (DOD) programme at the 2018 conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona on Tuesday.

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Ireland, Surrogacy Abroad

Ireland – Surrogacy: ‘Infertile couples will still have to go abroad to make their dream a reality’

Intended Parents

Source The Ireland Journal

THE MINISTER FOR Health, Simon Harris, is forcefully encouraging the electorate to vote to repeal the 8th Amendment via his Twitter page. Consequently, the Minister is demonstrating that he empathises with women who need to be able to exercise the right to choose to terminate their pregnancy in Ireland.

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Ireland, Surrogacy, Surrogate Mother

Irish model Georgia Penna reportedly welcomes third child via surrogate

Intended Parents

Source RSVP Live

Irish beauty Georgia Penna has reportedly welcomed her third child via surrogate with husband Joe.

The model revealed she was expecting a baby girl back in February and shared gorgeous snaps of the baby shower thrown for her.

The star is married to Joe Penna and already has twin boys.

The 32-year-old is very private when it comes to her personal life and rarely posts family pictures.

Their baby girl was reportedly born last week to an American surrogate. An inside source told Evoke.iethat everything went well and the couple are delighted.

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posthumous conception, Ireland

Ireland – Posthumous conception raises ‘host of ethical issues’

Intended Parents

Source Baptist Press

In Ireland, legislation is under consideration that would permit reproductive cells from deceased individuals to be used by their spouses or partners to conceive children posthumously, according to media reports. The Irish legislature’s Joint Committee on Health discussed the bill once in January and again in February, a spokesperson for the legislature told Baptist Press. A final bill could be drafted in the coming months and put before parliament for debate.

Health Committee chairman Michael Harty said in a news release, “Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) is becoming increasingly important in Ireland and measures must be put in place to protect parents, donors, surrogates and crucially, the children born through AHR.”

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No uterus, Surrogacy, UK

Irish woman born with no vagina, cervix or uterus has two rounds of reconstructive surgery and says it won’t stop her being a mum

Intended Parents

Source The Sun

AN Irish woman has told of her heartbreak at discovering she had been born without a vagina, cervix or uterus when she was just 18.

While she was growing up, Rebekah Knight, now 25, from Ballymoney in Antrim, thought she would start her period in her early teens like the rest of her friends.

Rebekah has now written a book to try and help others

But, when she turned 17 and was still waiting, she began to worry that something wasn’t right.

After a string of tests, doctors told her she had a rare condition called Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, meaning she was born without a vagina, cervix and uterus.

Rebekah, who works as an events steward, said: “As you can imagine, I was very heartbroken and shocked. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.

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intended parents, Ireland, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

Ireland – Fertility expert: Surrogacy plans too restrictive

Intended Parents

Source: Irish Examiner

A fertility expert has warned that plans to permit surrogacy in Ireland are too restrictive and that people would continue to seek surrogacy abroad even though it remains a grey area.

Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Mary Wingfield said the legal situation of those who employed surrogate mothers abroad should have been addressed in the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill.

Prof Wingfield was one of three fertility experts to discuss the proposed legislation at a meeting of the joint committee on health yesterday.

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intended parents, Ireland, Surrogacy, Surrogacy Law, Surrogate Mother

Ireland – Call for legislation to treat surrogate mothers equally

Intended Parents

Source: Connacht Tribune

A Galway City councillor has called on the Health Minister to consider introducing legislation giving surrogate mothers maternity leave so they are not treated any differently from natural or adoptive parents.

Fine Gael Cllr Padraig Conneely said he is aware of several couples in Galway who have become parents through a surrogacy arrangement abroad.

Surrogacy is a way for a childless couple or individual to have a child, with a surrogate mother carrying the child. The surrogate mother agrees to be artificially inseminated or to have an embryo transferred to her womb in order to become pregnant. She then carries the child to term with the intention of giving custody of the child to the “commissioning” person or couple.

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