Government’s ‘eye off the ball’ on fertility treatment laws

A junior Government minister said he is “not aware of any plans” to legislate in the area of assisted human reproduction (AHR), despite a commitment in the Programme for Government to do so.

Seán Sherlock, minister of state for research and innovation, said he acknowledged that there “is a little bit of taking the eye off the ball maybe by Government” in relation to the lack of regulation of fertility treatments. However, he said he would take the matter up with Health Minister James Reilly.

“There haven’t been discussions between my department and the Department of Health on the issue of legislation for this area, but it is in the Programme for Government,” said Mr Sherlock.