Irish families still travelling to Ukraine for surrogacy despite Government pleas not to do so

The Department of Foreign Affairs said part of the reason people were asked not to travel is due to limits on the ability of the Irish State to provide consular assistance to those in Ukraine.

Irish families continue to fly to Ukraine to avail of surrogacy despite repeated pleas from the Government not to do so.

It is understood a small number of families — about 20 — are engaged in the process at some point, with some having embryos stored in the war-torn country and at least one couple being in Ukraine.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said any travel to Ukraine was advised against due to the ongoing war with Russia. The department said part of the reason people were asked not to travel is due to limits on the ability of the Irish State to provide consular assistance to those in Ukraine.

"The Department of Foreign Affairs strongly advises against all travel to Ukraine, for any purpose. The department is aware of and concerned about a number of citizens who continue to enter Ukraine for the purpose of engaging in surrogacy arrangements.

The situation across Ukraine remains extremely dangerous and the department strongly advises against entering into surrogacy arrangements in Ukraine. The capacity of the department to provide consular assistance to citizens in Ukraine is extremely limited."

Ireland's embassy in Kyiv only opened nine months before the Russian invasion and sources said providing assistance throughout the war had been "very tricky".

Fine Gael senator Mary Seery Kearney said she had been in contact with a number of families who have been engaged in the surrogacy process in Ukraine. She said her first advice was not to travel to the country.

"I always put across that message — do not travel to Ukraine. Some people have embryos over there and want to travel and my advice is always that there are other countries which do international surrogacy and the embryos can be shipped there, there are processes to do that."

Ms Seery Kearney said she was keen to empathise with those who do feel the need to travel in their bid to have a child.

"My advice always comes without judgement because, on a human level, it is a very, very tough situation."

Ukraine has signalled it may end the practice of foreign surrogacy. President Voldomyr Zelenskyy's government has drafted a piece of legislation that would outlaw the use of international surrogacy through Ukraine. 

That move was followed by Georgia, which in June moved to do the same. Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili said the country was calling a halt to the practices due to “a risk that such children might be destined for same-sex parents abroad".

A bill on the rights of those who undergo foreign surrogacy is currently at committee stage in the Oireachtas. In December, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly announced the Government would legislate for those families and that amendments would be introduced at committee stage of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill in January 2023. 

In a recent update, Mr Donnelly said the formal drafting process of these new surrogacy provisions by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) is at an advanced stage.

However, the Attorney General told Mr Donnelly that drafting by the OPC on the bill has had to be paused until the autumn.