Giving power of veto to surrogates is surprising.. and wrong

A legal amendment will not seek to rectify a major flaw in new provisions allowing parental orders to be vetoed by surrogates

Remarkably, says Brian Tobin, the policy in the 2024 Act is to allow a gestational surrogate, and not a court, to have the final say over a genetically-unrelated child’s legal parentage. File Picture: Kzenon / Alamy Stock

Last week, the Government approved the General Scheme of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) (Amendment) Bill 2024, which will, among other things, amend existing legislation to allow parents of children born through donor-conception procedures that take place abroad to have their parentage recognised under Irish law. 

Current legislation, commenced in 2020, only regulates parentage in donor-conception procedures that take place in Ireland.