There are no plans for Ireland to follow France and set up state-funded elective egg-freezing for people who feel they are being forced to delay having children.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has confirmed that State-funded egg-freezing in Ireland – a medical treatment that tries to preserve fertility and help a woman get pregnant at a later date – would only be available for medical reasons.
Carroll MacNeill was speaking in response to a parliamentary question from Labour’s Conor Sheehan, who asked if the Government had considered the costs of a public egg-freezing scheme for women aged 29 to 38 years of age.
The minister said fertility preservation services for men and women were currently available through the public health system “in cases where a cancer diagnosis has been made”. About 100 women and 200 men use the State service every year.
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She said the HSE and the Department of Health were considering expanding the scheme to other patients who might have conditions that could affect their fertility.
[ Postponing parenthood: How Ireland’s housing crisis is forcing people to delay having children ]
“However, there are no plans at this juncture to broaden the examination being undertaken beyond those patients who have a particular medical condition or are undergoing specific treatment which are very likely to impact negatively on their fertility,” she said.
The French government this year launched a scheme to encourage people in their late 20s to try to have children before family planning becomes more difficult down the line.
It is part of a 16-point plan to try to stall France’s falling birth rate. The fertility rate in France is 1.56 children per woman.
Ireland’s fertility rate – which means the average number of children a woman would be expected to have over her lifetime – has fallen faster than expected to a rate of 1.5 from a rate of two in 2012.
Since 2021, France has offered elective state-funded egg-freezing as part of a fertility preservation measure for women aged 29 to 37 who may try to have children later in life. France is now planning to expand the number of its egg-freezing centres from 40 to 70.
Sheehan said it was “disappointing” that a broader public egg-freezing scheme was not planned.
“We know that more and more people are delaying starting a family, often because of the housing crisis and the sheer cost of living. For many, the chance to have children is slipping further and further out of reach,” he said.
“Government should be taking a lead from countries like France and seriously examining how a publicly funded egg-freezing option could be made available to those who choose it.
“Time and again, women’s health is treated as an afterthought in Ireland. While other countries move ahead with practical support, Ireland continues to delay and defer.
“We need proactive, forward-thinking policies that reflect the reality of today, not continued inaction.”
