Commercial surrogacy is to be banned in Ireland under new laws.

The Minister for Health is drawing up heads of a bill on assisted reproduction and surrogacy.

The bill will provide for the appointment of a regulator to promote patient safety and good clinical practice.

They will maintain a register of donors and maintain all records of all assisted reproduction activities.

The Health Minister Leo Varadkar says commercial surrogacy will be banned but the surrogate will be allowed to have reasonable expenses reimbursed.