The first country to ban anonymous sperm donation has now also made it mandatory for parents to tell their donor conceived children of their origins.

The new Swedish legislation was passed in January this year, well over three decades after the country banned anonymous gamete donation in 1985. Most donor sperm used in Ireland comes from Denmark and is anonymous.

The issue came up during the conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that is taking place in Vienna right now, according to journalist and academic, Frieda Klotz.

Speaking to RTE’s Drivetime, she said a key motivation for making disclosure a norm sprung from taking the rights of the child into account. Sweden had at the time been one of the earliest countries that made it illegal to hit a child and they also took into account the latest research on adoption. Since then, 5000 people have been born through donor conception, 700 of whom are now over 18 and eligible to access their genetic information. However, only 34 have come forward to seek their genetic dads. It is not known whether those others chose not to investigate, or if their parents never told them. Now, the law formally enjoins new parents to do so.

Klotz said most who are seeking their origins are trying to get a better sense of their own identity – something that had been hidden but is now accessible – and they are also seeking medical information and have concerns about inadvertent incest.

Klotz also spoke with Prof Mary Wingfield of the Dublin-based Merrion Fertility Clinic which is one of a group of Irish fertility clinics who asked the Dept of Health to postpone the enactment of Irish legislation banning anonymous gamete donation.

They think an Assisted Human Reproduction bill on donor conception should be introduced before the CFR Act on setting up a donor registry is enacted.