An Oireachtas subcommittee has recommended the Government establish a new regulatory body and framework for fertility treatment. However, it is unable to advise on the legal status of a human embryo in the face of ongoing uncertainty on the constitutional status of the unborn..
The subcommittee's report advises that surrogate pregnancies should be outlawed but says egg and sperm donation should be allowed. The report will lead to a renewed focus on whether the Government should hold a referendum to decide if the legal protection for the unborn begins at conception or at a later stage.
A Government spokesman refused to be drawn last night on when and if a referendum would be considered. The issue of the status of the unborn has dogged governments since the X case in 1992 and has been the subject of referendums in 1992 and 2001, both of which were rejected.
The subcommittee's advice follows a series of recommendations made by Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, which reported to Government last May. The Government referred the report to the Oireachtas Committee on Health, which established a three-person subcommittee to advise on it. Fianna Fáil TD John Moloney, Progressive Democrats TD Fiona O'Malley and independent Senator, Dr Mary Henry were appointed to the subcommittee.
Their report, which will be brought to the full Oireachtas committee next week, is in favour of most of the main recommendations in the commission's report, including a new regulatory framework for fertility treatment which would cover issues such as consent, counselling and treatment methods.
However, the subcommittee has decided against advising on two key recommendations in the report. These are that human embryos should only attract legal protection on implantation and that research should be allowed on unimplanted human embryo.
Yesterday Mr Moloney, who is also Oireachtas Committee on Health chairman, said: "Clearly there are some recommendations that we are simply unable to comment upon because they centre upon the whole issue of when life begins, and that is not in the remit of our committee to decide on."
The committee favours establishing a regulatory body for fertility clinics. It recommends permitting cloning for therapeutic reasons under strict regulationsanning but banning reproductive cloning. The report also recommends allowing egg and sperm donation, on condition the donors are not paid. However, it disagreed on the issue of surrogate pregnancies and advises that these should remain illegal.
It has also rejected the recommendation that children resulting from egg and sperm donations should have the right to know the identity of the donors when they become adults. It favours the recommendations that parents in fertility treatment be allowed to choose the sex of a child only in extreme cases to avoid a risk of a gender-related genetic disorder.
Meanwhile, a dispute between an estranged couple over frozen embryos they created during IVF treatment is likely to come before the High Court. It is understood the treatment resulted in the birth of one child and the surplus embryos were frozen and stored by the clinic that assisted the couple in the treatment.
The couple have since separated, and the wife is seeking implantation of more embryos, to which the husband is opposed. When the embryos were frozen a bilateral agreement was signed by the couple that a joint consent was required in further decisions on their future.
The question of consent could conflict with the right to life of the unborn, if the embryos are found to fall within the terms of the Constitution. The term "unborn" is not defined in the Constitution, and has not since been defined by the courts.
Commenting on the case Dr Berry Kiely of the Pro-Life Campaign said: "Whether or not the human embryo is implanted it has a dignity and value by virtue of its humanity and has a right to be cared for and protected from harm . . . We need a more open debate on assisted human reproduction in Ireland."