Improve access to IVF funding - Smith

When a woman undergoes fertility treatment her “whole life is put on hold” said Cllr Smith

A local councillor has called on the government to broaden the qualifying criteria to allow more couples to access publicly funded fertility treatment in Ireland.

The topic was raised following the announcement that the HSE will introduce publicly funded services such as IVF, IUI and ICSI from September 2023, but Fianna Fáil's Aine Smith wants the scheme to be extended further still.

When a woman undergoes fertility treatment her “whole life is put on hold” said Cllr Smith. She said that, while July's announcement was welcomed by people living with infertility, “like all things fertility related, it has turned out that it’s not what a lot of people had hoped for" referring to strict qualifying criteria.

More than two decades on from when State-funded IVF was first tabled by then Minister for Health Mary Harney, Cllr Smith said the failure to act by successive government meant that many had been forced to pay for their own treatment, ranging from €4,000 to €6,500 in Irish clinics.

“IVF is out of reach for so many couples who don’t have the means to access treatment,” said Cllr Smith, who said the latest announcement contained “a heavy blow" for a lot of people.

"It was a blow for women over the age of 42, women over a certain BMI (body mass index), same-sex couples, and single people who would love a baby of their own. It is also a crushing disappointment for people struggling with secondary infertility; who had their first baby naturally, but who struggle to get pregnant again and give that child a sibling.

“The criteria announced by the Minister for Health are also devastating for people who have already started their IVF journey. To qualify for free treatment, couples can only have undertaken one round or cycle of privately-funded IVF and used all the embryos created as a result of that cycle. This is very unfair,” stated Cllr Smith, who noted that the current scheme only provides for one free cycle of IVF.

“Anyone who has undergone fertility treatment knows that it is rare to be successful the first time around,” she added.

By comparison, Cllr Smith looked to the NHS in the UK, which provides funding for up to three cycles. Other countries like the Netherlands and Belgium offer between four and six cycles.

“It usually takes several rounds or cycles of IVF treatment to get a positive pregnancy test, and sadly we also know that a positive test doesn’t always mean you will be bringing home a baby in nine months’ time.”

In her opinion the criteria for the current Irish scheme have been “looked at coldly and clinically” and the question around BMI is “very unfair. "Not every couple who conceive naturally are the perfect BMI and I know of many couples who have had successful IVF too and were not the 'perfect' BMI either,” she remarked.

Infertility, Cllr Smith said, is a “devastating condition” that affects one in six couples in Ireland.

“The fact there is a very limited budget available, with just €10 million ring-fenced is just not good enough. That’s a drop in the ocean when you consider that the annual health budget for 2023 was over €23 billion.

“It is important to remember that there are no guarantees with fertility treatment. Anyone who has travelled that long lonely road knows that all too well. It is a constant heartbreak and struggle.

"Donor sperm and eggs are not covered by the funding announced, due to the failure to pass the long-awaited Assisted Human Reproduction Bill. This legislative delay means that same-sex couples, single people and heterosexual couples who use donor eggs or sperm cannot receive publicly funded treatment,” she further highlighted.

The result, Cllr Smith suggests, is driving couples abroad for “cheaper alternatives”, where the expense in these private clinics is a “constant haemorrhage” and, with “no regulatory authority”, these prices are likely to increase.

She also called for a greater emphasis on restorative care first and urged couples undergoing IVF to research different clinics and pick the right one for their specific needs.

"Unfortunately, the stigma around discussing infertility has led successive governments to not do anything about it up until now.”

The motion was supported by her party colleague Patricia Walsh, John Paul Feeley and Philip Brady. There was support too from Fine Gael's Carmel Brady and TP O'Reilly and Independent Brendan Fay.