I raise a concern around the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill. This concern has been escalated to me by medics who have studied the draft Bill.

First, I take the opportunity to say that I am so pleased with this week’s announcement that we will be providing public funding for publicly available IVF for the first time ever.

As I said, it has come to my attention that the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill may be medically and scientifically out of date and could have unintended consequences. The reason is that provides for treatment for those with a specific need. Today, people without specific needs can and indeed do avail of fertility treatments. Who do I mean by that? I mean same-sex couples, who avail of surrogacy, and women, particularly single women, who choose to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs. It is essential that all fertility treatments currently available remain legally permissible, and both publicly and privately accessible, once the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill becomes law. Can the Tánaiste provide that reassurance today?

I thank the Deputy. First, I understand a sum of €10 million has been allocated in the budget to provide IVF services. The provision of State funding for IVF services is long overdue in my view. There is some help already through the tax system but it is not enough. I am glad that money has been provided. A big job of work is to be done in establishing the criteria as to who qualifies, how many cycles, and so on. That is a big body of work and I hope the Department of Health does not waste any time in getting that done.

The legislation is still going through the Houses at the moment. I saw some press reports about the issue of women who freeze their eggs for many good reasons. We will have to examine the legislation to ensure we do not inadvertently cause something to be unlawful when it is not the intention that it would be made unlawful.