HEALTH MINISTER STEPHEN Donnelly has said he plans to expand the free IVF scheme to include couples who use donor materials.

The minister said he will be seeking to expand the scheme, which was launched last September, in the upcoming budget.

Since last year, patients with fertility issues can now be referred by their GP to one the Regional Fertility Hubs for low level intervention as well as for fertility treatment in private clinics.

Currently a single person, same-sex couples, or hetrosexual couples who require donor eggs or sperm are not be eligible for the scheme.

With the passing of the Assisted Human Reproduction legislation through both Houses of the Oireachtas this week, the minister confirmed to The Journal that he now plans to act on this issue. 

“At the moment it doesn’t apply to anyone as needing donor assistance — that could be a male/female couple, in a lot of cases it is same sex female couples.

“I certainly will be looking for funding in the budget to to expand that. This [the legislation] gives us the regulatory framework now to to do that, so yes, I’d certainly be seeking to expand that as a matter of priority,” said Donnelly.

The Assisted Human Reproduction Bill which passed this week, deals with fertility treatments for couples and single people and also provides a legislative framework for surrogacy. 

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The complex legislation will also regulate a range of practices, including gamete and embryo donation for assisted human reproduction and research, preimplantation genetic testing of embryos, posthumous assisted human reproduction and and embryo and stem cell research.

It is estimated that 3,000 couples will use the scheme in the first year.