Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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785. To ask the Minister for Health if it is envisaged that the assisted human reproduction Bill will legislate for the mother's name to be included on the birth certificate in the case of a child born through altruistic domestic surrogacy; and if this will be applied retrospectively to the birth certificates of children already born in this way. [50719/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, drafting of a bill on assisted human reproduction (AHR) and associated areas of research is ongoing by Department of Health officials, in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General. This legislation encompasses the regulation for the first time of a wide range of practices undertaken in this jurisdiction, including domestic altruistic surrogacy. 

The surrogacy provisions of the Bill outline the specific conditions under which surrogacy in Ireland will be permitted and sets out a court-based mechanism through which the parentage of a child born through surrogacy may be transferred from the surrogate to the intending parent(s). Where the Court grants a Parental Order in respect in respect of a child born as a result of a surrogacy agreement, the Court will send a copy of the Parental Order to an tArd-Chláraitheoir who can issue the necessary certificate. 

Publication of the AHR Bill is a priority for the Department and the Government, and a commitment to enact this legislation is included in the Programme for Government, “Our Shared Future”. This Department and the Office of the Attorney General will continue to engage intensively over the next few months to finalise this complex legislation. 

The question of whether provision should be made for the retrospective assignment of parentage in respect of children already born through surrogacy arrangements raises complex legal issues that come under the remit of a number of Government Departments and which will require detailed examination.