Surrogacy

The High Court has identified a "legislative lacuna" around the question of citizenship for children born abroad to one or more Irish parents in a same-sex relationship. Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan handed down judgment last week in respect of two families whose children were refused Irish passp

Legal academic Dr Dafni Lima responds to a new crackdown on surrogacy by Italy's far-right government. The Italian Senate recently passed a law making surrogacy a “universal crime”. In a country where surrogacy is already illegal, and has been since 2004, this decision takes restric

New legislation is to address the rights of parents who undertake a donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR) procedure abroad. The amending bill is being brought hot on the heels of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024, which was approved by the Oireachtas in the summer.

The High Court has granted a declaration of parentage in favour of a gay man who alleged that the children's mother backed out of a co-parenting agreement. The children in question were born in 2021 through a donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR) procedure in Ukraine, with the use of the man's sp

Legislation regulating assisted human reproduction (AHR) and surrogacy arrangements has been approved by the Oireachtas. The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 regulates for the first time a wide range of practices including gamete and embryo donation for AHR and research, pre-implantati

Ministers will seek to amend landmark proposed legislation to include provisions covering international surrogacy arrangements, the government has confirmed. The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 will regulate practices including gamete and embryo donation for assisted human reproductio

The Supreme Court has ruled that a child born in the UK via a surrogacy arrangement was not entitled to Irish citizenship based on his non-biological father’s Irish citizenship. The parents were a same-sex married couple and had obtained a parental order in England, which was not available in

Children with experience of surrogacy are "in favour of legal reforms", according to a new study led by the University of Leicester. Using a combination of age-appropriate methods, including a "unique set of playing cards", researchers have drawn out their views on topics that included how the legal

Denmark's outright ban on adoption in the context of a commercial surrogacy agreement violated the rights of two children born to a surrogate mother, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled.

Northern Ireland’s High Court has refused an application for judicial review where it was alleged that a same-sex couple suffered discrimination after being denied access to a publicly-funded IVF scheme. The court found that the criteria for obtaining access to the scheme were rational and pro

Government ministers have yet to reach a decision on whether to accept an Oireachtas committee's recommendation that international surrogacy should be included within an existing draft bill addressing domestic surrogacy. The joint committee on international surrogacy concluded earlier this month tha

A draft bill on domestic surrogacy should be amended to also establish a legislative framework for international surrogacy, an Oireachtas committee has recommended. The joint committee on international surrogacy has concluded that including international surrogacy in the Health (Assisted Human Repro

"We are on the cusp, I believe, of the commencement and introduction of one of the most transformational pieces of legislation in Irish history," says Annette Hickey, senior associate and head of the surrogacy and fertility law team at Poe Kiely Hogan Lanigan LLP (PKHL). Ms Hickey is one of a number

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has been granted liberty by the Supreme Court to exercise its amicus curiae function in a significant case relating to surrogacy, citizenship and children's rights. The case examines the citizenship of a child, known as "C", born through surrogacy in th

Ireland's special rapporteur on child protection has slammed government plans to leave international surrogacy unregulated, warning that it will allow couples "to bring children here in circumstances where surrogate mothers were seriously exploited or did not properly consent". Dr Conor O'Mahony, a