13. Who is recognised as the legal parent(s) of a child born following surrogacy?
a. surrogate mother Yes, birth mother is the legal mother - see note on the MR and Anor – v- An tArd Chlaraitheoir & Ors [2014] case
If the surrogate mother is married, then under the Status of Children Act 1987, the surrogate mother's husband is presumed by law to be the father of the child. The husband will also, along with the surrogate mother, be the joint guardian of the child.
If the commissioning father is the genetic father of the child, it is possible to overcome the presumption of paternity in favour of the surrogate mother's husband, so as to allow the commissioning father to be recognised as the legal parent of the child. The commissioning father will need to provide evidence of paternity in support of this application.
If the surrogate mother is not married, and the commissioning father is the genetic father of the child, then the Irish authorities may recognise his paternity of the child on receipt of reliable DNA evidence.
As provided for under the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, gamete/embryo donors are not regarded to be the parent(s) of donor-conceived children.
b. oocyte donor No
c. sperm donor No
d. intended mother No
e. intended father Yes
14. Do mechanisms exist to transfer parentage from the surrogate mother to the intended parent(s) (e.g. adoption procedures)?
See previous note. In addition, it is proposed that the legislation on assisted human reproduction will establish a court-based mechanism for transfer of parentage from the surrogate (and her husband) to the intending parents. At least one of the intending parents will have to be genetically related to the child.
15. Is the existence of a genetic link required for establishing paternity/maternity? As previously stated, the birth mother is automatically regarded as the legal mother under the Irish Constitution. See notes under Q 13 re paternity and Q 14 re transfer of parentage in cases of surrogacy.
16. Are the other parties involved mentioned in the birth certificate or other official document connected to the birth?
a. surrogate mother Yes, birth mother is always the legal mother
b. oocyte donor No
c. sperm donor No
d. intended mother No
e. intended father Yes, so long as he is the genetic father
The proposed legislation will establish a national surrogacy register where the contact details of any person involved in a surrogacy, e.g. sperm or oocyte donor, intending parent and surrogate, will be recorded. Once a person born to a surrogate reaches the age of 18, he or she may access the full information contained in the national surrogacy register, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
17. Are foreign birth certificates in surrogacy cases registered in your country No