Mothers in same-sex relationships left in a ‘legal quagmire’

Women in a same-sex marriage with donor-conceived children have been “left in a legal quagmire” by the Government according to a legal academic, the Irish Examiner reports.

Dr Brian Tobin, lecturer at the School of Law in NUI Galway, criticised the Government for its failure to enact sections 20 to 23 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, which provide for the same-sex parents of a donor-conceived child to be able to apply to a court to be recognised as the child’s parents.

Under the existing law, the mother who undergoes the process of conceiving a child via donor insemination in a fertility clinic is recognised as the mother on the child’s birth certificate, while the mother’s same-sex partner has no recognition.

Dr Tobin said: “The successful referendum result in May 2015 meant legislation allowing same-sex marriage would follow shortly thereafter, so numerous lesbian couples in Ireland began to plan their weddings for late 2015.

“They also began the process of conceiving a child via donor insemination in Irish fertility clinics throughout the summer of 2015, believing that once the child was born they would both be able to be recognised as its married parents.”

He added: “Lesbian couples who married late last year and had a child within marriage this year now find that their marital family unit is not adequately recognised by the State because they cannot both be registered as the legal parents of their donor-conceived child.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said: “Sections 20 to 23 are in part two of the act and cannot be commenced in isolation. Commencement of parts two and three is a matter for the Minister for Health, and we understand that the necessary preparatory work is in progress.”