Irish Examiner view: Making progress to end a lonely journey

It is estimated that some 12m babies have been born as a result of assisted reproductive technologies. File picture: Courtneyk/iStock

It’s just over a year since Health Minister Stephen Donnelly announced that there would be public funding for assisted human reproduction (AHR) treatment in Ireland.

This was a great leap forward given that the technique was pioneered successfully by Nobel Prize-winning physiologist Robert Edwards and co-workers Patrick Steptoe and Jean Purdy 48 years ago in Oldham, England.