HEALTH MINISTER STEPHEN Donnelly is to announce an expansion to the free IVF scheme to allow couples who already have a child to access treatment as part of the Budget.

It will reverse one element of the scheme’s current criteria which requires that a couple accessing publicly funded IVF must have no living children together.

There are plans to expand the scheme in two areas next year. The first of these will allow couples requiring donor assistance to access the scheme during 2025.

Health Minister to announce expansion to free IVF scheme to allow couples with an existing child to access treatment. One element of the current criteria sets out that a couple accessing publicly funded IVF must have no living children together.

— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) October 1, 2024

At present couples who require a donor egg or sperm are unable to access publicly funded IVF because donor materials are not regulated.

But the government is establishing the Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority (AHRRA) which will be tasked with oversight of the area. The formation of the regulator is an element of the new Assisted Human Reproduction legislation.

Donnelly is also planning to amend the access criteria to include couples experiencing what is known as ‘secondary infertility’ – these are couples who have an existing child but then have fertility issues.

The so-called ‘existing child limit’ had been criticised by GPs while the expansion of the free IVF scheme to include couples who use donor materials had been classed by Donnelly as a priority in June.

Introduced in September last year, the publicly funded IVF scheme has seen over 1,200 couples avail of it so far with the first babies born to their parents through the scheme during the summer.

Budget proceedings kick off in the Dáil at 1pm. The Journal will be bringing you all the latest on Budget 2025 throughout the day.

With reporting by Christina Finn