Nobody can tell you a date, and anyone who offers one is guessing. That is unsatisfying, and it is more useful than a confident answer that turns out to be wrong — which is what a good many families have already been given.
What Can Be Said Factually
The Act was signed into law on 2 July 2024. Commencement of the principal surrogacy provisions has been indicated more than once and deferred more than once — families were told at one point to expect the retrospective provisions in mid-2025, and that did not happen. The Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority was formally established in October 2025, which mattered, because the Act’s surrogacy machinery runs through AHRRA approval and could not operate before the body existed. But establishment is not the same as an operating approval regime. And the Department of Health has indicated that the prospective and past international surrogacy provisions should be commenced concurrently rather than separately, which ties the retrospective relief families are waiting on to the passage of a further amending Bill. Meanwhile, parents have continued to press publicly for commencement, and a commitment to commence has featured in the Programme for Government. That is the full honest picture: institutional progress, real political commitment, and no date.
Why It Keeps Slipping — and What to Do About It
Three strands, none of them sinister. The Act is long and structurally complex, and its surrogacy provisions depend on a regulator that had to be built from nothing. An amending Bill has been in prospect to close gaps identified after enactment — habitual residence questions, recognition of foreign parental orders, the position of people who had donor-assisted treatment abroad — and the concurrent-commencement position links the two. And there is a genuine policy caution about commencing a partial scheme, since half-commenced legislation in this area can create as many problems as it solves. None of which helps a family whose child is at school with only one legal parent. So the practical answer is not to predict, but to stop making commencement the foundation of your planning. Establish who is a legal parent now. Secure guardianship as soon as the route is open. Make wills that address the parentage gap explicitly. Preserve the evidence a future application will need — including contact with your surrogate, which is the thing most easily lost across years of waiting. Then treat commencement as an improvement when it comes, rather than the thing everything depends on.
Because dates have moved before, this page carries a date. If you are reading it some time after the date shown above, check the current position rather than relying on it — commencement orders can be made at short notice, and the whole of this page changes when one is.
Planning around a law that has not arrived? 01 5827148.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & TEP
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981) and a TEP of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. The firm advises on the legal position of families formed through surrogacy and assisted reproduction — parentage, guardianship, birth registration, travel documentation, and the succession and estate planning consequences that the current gap in the law creates. This is a legal practice: it is not an agency, does not match or introduce surrogates, and takes no part in any commercial arrangement. Consultations by telephone, video or in person. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
General information, not legal advice. This website contains general information about Irish law relating to surrogacy and assisted human reproduction. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every family’s position turns on its own facts, and advice on yours requires a consultation.
The law is changing and this page has a date. The position described across this site is stated as at 31 July 2026. The principal surrogacy provisions of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024 were not commenced at that date. Commencement orders can be made at short notice and will alter this position materially. Confirm the current position before acting.
This is a legal practice, not an agency. Mary Molloy Solicitors provides legal advice and representation. It does not operate as a surrogacy agency, does not match, introduce or recruit surrogates or intending parents, does not advertise for or on behalf of any surrogate, does not recommend or receive any payment from any clinic, agency or intermediary, and takes no part in arranging or facilitating any payment beyond the provision of legal services. Nothing on this site is an offer or invitation to enter any commercial surrogacy arrangement.
Foreign law and medical matters. Where an arrangement involves another jurisdiction, the law of that jurisdiction applies to what happens there and independent legal advice must be taken locally — nothing here states or implies that any arrangement is lawful or unlawful in any other country. Nothing on this site is medical advice, and questions about treatment, suitability or risk are for your treating clinicians.
Fees. Fees are agreed in writing with the client at the outset. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.
Tax. Nothing on this website is tax advice. Where parentage affects succession, gift or inheritance treatment, those questions belong with your accountant or tax adviser and with Revenue’s own guidance, and should be addressed before any step is taken.