Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has asked families expecting babies via surrogacy in Ukraine to contact his Department.
Fine Gael Senator Mary Seery Kearney raised the issue in the Seanad. The evolving situation in Ukraine is a cause of increasing anxiety to families who are expecting babies via surrogacy in the country at present, she said.
Ms Seery Kearney said she has been made aware of 14 babies expected via surrogacy in Ukraine between now and May.
"This is an incredibly anxious period for families at the best of times, but in the context of the ever evolving situation and the news cycle it is particularly worrying for intending parents," she added. "In many instances there is a contrast between the reports from surrogates who are living their normal everyday lives and that of the news available here to Irish couples."
Ms Seery Kearney said she has made Minister Coveney aware of the circumstances of families expecting babies via surrogate in Ukraine, "and he has responded with reassurance that his Department will provide support appropriate to the needs as they present themselves at the time of the baby’s birth".
Emergency travel passport
She added: "The officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs have always been most responsive and supportive as families go through the process of securing their emergency travel passport for their babies for the return to Ireland.
“At the start of the Covid pandemic when travel came to an abrupt stop, Irish officials went to extraordinary lengths to support families and repatriate them with their newborns and I have no doubt this will be no different."
“There are two clinics supporting surrogacy – one in Kiev, the capital and another in Lviv, a city closer to the Polish border. I have been advised that clinics are making contingency plans to support surrogates to move to Lviv in the event of matters in Ukraine deteriorating on the Eastern side of the country to ensure their safety and comfort as they give birth and recover from birth,” concluded Ms Seery Kearney.
