Fertility preservation for the general population is not available through the Irish public health service; however, there is a free service for cancer patients through Rotunda IVF, The National Fertility Centre in Dublin, funded by the HSE. Following a referral, a person can be seen at the fertility clinic within 24-48 hours of their cancer diagnosis to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays to cancer treatment. Following a consultation/counselling, a person can choose to freeze their sperm, eggs or embryos. These samples will be stored, free of charge, for 10 years.
The Waterstone Clinic in Cork provides fertility sparing services to male cancer patients free of charge, while storage comes with a fee.
Free fertility preservation is definitely available and that’s the expensive part. Transferring embryos etc. is the cheaper part. From what I understand, Shannen has 1embryo. She will require donor eggs/a surrogate should that embryo not work - none of which will be covered.