Eligible prisoners will be able to access IVF

The Irish Prison Service said it 'works to ensure that those in custody are provided with the equivalent access to healthcare services as that available under the Medical Card scheme in the community'.

The Irish Prison service said it is working to ensure that eligible prisoners have access to IVF treatment while serving their sentences.

Last month, the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly announced details about the first publicly-funded Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) programme, which will begin in September.

The scheme will give patients who are eligible for treatment, one full cycle of in-vitro-fertilisation (IVF) or Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment.

It will be provided in HSE-approved private clinics of their choice before the opening of the country’s first public National Advanced AHR Centre next year.

Prisoners in Ireland do not have a right to conjugal visits, meaning they cannot have sex with a spouse or partner while serving their prison sentences. 

However, they are entitled to the same medical services as medical card patients in the community.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the Irish Prison Service said: “The Irish Prison Service acknowledges the recent announcement from the HSE to introduce publicly funded fertility treatment services for people in the community from September 2023.

“The Irish Prison Service works to ensure that those in custody are provided with the equivalent access to healthcare services as that available under the Medical Card scheme in the community."

Senator Mary Seery Kearney raised questions with prison service officials in March in relation to IVF treatment for prisoners.

She was speaking at the joint Oireachtas committee on disability matters with the Prison Service, about the inability to be able to grow a family over a prison sentence.

Ms Seery Kearney said she had received queries about this from her constituents who described this situation as “traumatic”.

At the time she told the Irish Examiner: “In so far as prisoners have entitlements behind bars, this should be the same. 

"It will mean for men and women behind bars, they will be able to go through IVF and intrauterine insemination (IUI) or continue treatment if they are in the middle of it when they go into prison.

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“I asked the Prison Service about the matter, and they were very welcoming of my point and the situation, and they said, as a state scheme, there is no reason why a prisoner can’t avail.” 

Responding to her questions, Irish Prison Service director general Caron McCaffrey, said: “We provide equivalence of care to that which you can get in a community so all of your issues are dealt with in a holistic manner, so if you are presenting with an issue such as that then it will obviously be addressed by the healthcare team.

We need to be very clear that just because you are in custody, the only right you’ve lost is your right to liberty, you haven’t lost your other rights, including your right to family life and we do a lot, and as much as we can, to support the links with your family. 

So certainly, all of your needs, all of the issues presented, are addressed by our health care team.” 

Currently, IVF treatment can cost anywhere between from €8,000 to €50,000 in a private clinic and intending parents have often run up large loans to secure funding.

The new programme will provide one free cycle.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “Minister Donnelly announced details in respect of the commencement for the first time in this country of publicly-funded Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) treatment from September 2023."