Senator criticises 'crude' cut off criteria for publicly funded IVF

Vivienne Clarke

Labour Senator Marie Sherlock has described the reported cut off criteria for publicly funded IVF treatment as “crude”.

Ms Sherlock told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that while she welcomed the long awaited plans for publicly funded IVF treatment for couples dealing with infertility issues, there were some causes for concern.

“Ireland stands as one of a very tiny number of countries across the European Union that does not publicly fund fertility treatment.”

The key question now was the criteria for who was eligible, she said.

“I look forward to reading the experts’ recommendations and indeed then putting that alongside the government's criteria, because I think there are some causes for concern based on what has been reported this morning.”

The cut-off age of 41 for the woman and the body mass index criteria were “rather crude cut off criteria”, she said.

“But I think what stands out most to me is the exclusion of those who have an unknown infertility or an unknown cause of infertility.

"We know that of the one in six couples who experience infertility in this country, about 25 per cent have an unknown cause.”

In other countries, such as the UK, the clinical guidelines recommend that women with unexplained infertility who have not conceived after two years are then eligible for publicly funded IVF.

“I don't understand why that cannot be included here. I think that would be very unfair to those with unexplained fertility causes.”

Another issue of concern to Ms Sherlock was that the programme will be delivered through private fertility clinics. There had been a Government commitment for a publicly funded IVF programme for over seven years, but the Government “has not got its act together to ensure that that can be provided through our public hospitals".

“This goes into the wider health debate about relying on private agencies and private clinics to deliver what are essentially public services. I'm certainly concerned, particularly because we still do not have the assisted human reproduction legislation that the Government have committed to, they started the legislative process at the start of last year and haven't made any progress since then.

“There are a number of people who will be listening this morning, particularly women who would hope to either go it alone and would rely on donated sperm or indeed couples who rely on donated eggs that are excluded from the scheme to provide publicly funded IVF.

“We need to see that regulatory framework put in place that the Government have committed to, but haven't yet delivered upon. And we need to ensure that all those wanting to seek publicly funded IVF actually get a chance of doing so.”