Irish LGBTQ+ activist groups are calling for reconsideration after the announcement that the country’s newly announced publicly-funded in vitro fertilisation (IVF) scheme excludes same-sex couples.

While many are thankful that the long-awaited public-funded option is finally being implemented, the eligibility requirements limit participants to heterosexual couples who do not have children and have a known cause for infertility. In what some parents have called an act of blatant discrimination, single people, same-sex couples, and heterosexual couples who require donor eggs or sperm will not be eligible to participate in the programme.

In a public statement, LGBT Ireland, Irish Gay Dads and Equality for Children called on the Government to rethink this decision by emphasising that LGBTQ+ couples who want to have children experience the same stresses, anxiety and worry as other members of society.

The statement reads: “Advocacy groups and families are bitterly disappointed by the Government’s decision to exclude many families from the new IVF/IUI funding scheme, including same-sex couples”.

 

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Paula Fagan from LGBT Ireland said: “Today’s decision on IVF/IUI funding is very disappointing for many LGBT families. The decision to bar those who use a donor from the funding scheme means that all same-sex couples will be excluded. There is no justification for this.”

Fagan added: “On the one hand, under the current provisions of the Children and Family Relationships Act (2015), female same-sex couples are required to undergo clinical conception to be jointly recognised as parents. On the other hand, the State is now saying that it won’t fund these required procedures under the terms of the new IVF/IUI funding scheme. This makes no sense.”

? Same-sex couples are excluded from Ireland’s new publicly funded IVF scheme.

?? The version of the funding scheme, which will begin in September, states that single people, same-sex couples and heterosexual couples who require donor eggs or sperm will not be eligible. pic.twitter.com/dUFhF024Rz

— Openly ?️‍? (@Openly) July 26, 2023

Séamus Kearney Martone, on behalf of Irish Gay Dads, said: “Today’s decision reiterates the need for the Oireachtas to progress and pass the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill. The Bill has been delayed time and again. Each deadline the Minister set has been missed. It’s deeply unfair to keep families waiting indefinitely for this important legislation.”

Ranae von Meding, CEO of Equality for Children, said: “…These new financial supports are really welcome, but they should be open to everyone regardless of their sexual orientation or relationship status. The exclusion of everyone who uses donor gametes is deeply unfair.” She will be discussing what the decision means for LGBTQ+ couples this evening at 10pm on The Tonight Show. 

 

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Many commenters have shared their disappointment as well, calling the exclusion totally unfair.

“This is shocking. So disappointed for the LGBTQ community and for us women over 41. They’ve excluded the very people who need this treatment. I actually can’t believe it,” one person wrote.

Another said: “Absolutely gutted for LGBTQIA+ couples ?? For a country that claims to be progressive… the Blatant discrimination of same sex/queer couples/peoples makes me livid ? so unfair!”

Prior to the Irish government introducing the IVF scheme, Ireland was the only EU country that did not offer state-funded assistance for IVF, a treatment that costs roughly €4,500. The scheme which includes up to three cycles of Intrauterine Insemination Treatment (IUI) will begin in September.