LAST UPDATE | 20 Feb 2022
FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER Simon Coveney has said that there are a number of surrogate babies born in Ukraine on their way to Ireland this afternoon, as tensions continue to rise over a potential Russian invasion.
Speaking to Newstalk’s On The Record, Coveney said that the Irish embassy in Kyiv and the consular team in Dublin have worked “through the night” to ensure that families who were involved in surrogacy over the last few days could get home safely.
The Journal reported earlier this week that the babies of more than a dozen families, due to be born through surrogacy, would be brought back to Ireland as quickly as possible due to the threat of a Russian invasion.
“Our team in the embassy in Kyiv and our consular team in Dublin have been literally been working through the night with families to try to ensure that the families who have been involved in surrogacy in the last few days can get home safely,” Coveney said.
“Just to reassure everybody, there are a number of families involved here and they’re all safe and a number of them are on their way home this afternoon, which is a good outcome.”
For families who are expecting babies to be born in the coming days, Coveney said that the advice remains not to travel.
“Our advice is not to travel to Ukraine, but of course, we will work individually with the families to try and find solutions under difficult circumstances to keep everybody safe but also to unit parents with children who are being born.”
Earlier this week, there was a confirmation that a temporary measure was put in place to shorten the exit process for children born in Ukraine through surrogacy and would expedite the journey home for Irish couples with their newborns.
Responding to today’s news, Irish Families Through Surrogacy (IFTS) thanked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Government officials “for the intensive work they have done to ensure the safety of a number of Irish families who are in Ukraine with their newborn babies”.
“The news that the exit process home for these families has been expedited is extremely welcome and we wish the families a safe journey home to Ireland.
“Our thoughts are with the amazing women, all our surrogate mothers, and their families at this time of great tension and anguish in Ukraine.”
Additional reporting by Lauren Boland and Órla Ryan
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