Both parents in female same-sex families will be able to affirm their parental rights under a new bill being introduced to Government.

The Civil Registrations Bill 2019 has been approved and resolve difficulties experienced by many donors assisted birth cases in Ireland’s LGBT+ community.

Currently, only the birth parent can register as a parent on the birth certificate of a child born using a donor.

The bill will also allow for parents to request “Parent” as an identifier as opposed to “Mother” and “Father”.

This bill is applicable to historic cases meaning that families that have already registered the birth of their child can re-register to include both parents.

Ms Doherty said that although this bill affects a relatively small number of families, it was an important change to make.

“While the changes proposed will affect a relatively small number of people, they touch on matters that are very sensitive and of great importance to those families affected. I have met with and spoken to many affected by this issue and I am now very pleased to be able to bring these changes forward as a priority to ensure that they can be introduced as soon as possible.”

The Bill will also include provisions for:

• a role for a next of kin in providing a Coroner with additional details in relation to a deceased person’s particulars;

• sharing of GRO data and records with a body such as the National Library or National Archives; and

• collection of additional details in respect of deceased persons in order that the CSO can comply with obligations under EU Regulations.

It is expected that the Bill will be published and brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas early in the spring legislative session.

For male same-sex parents there is longer to wait to go as surrogacy and assisted human reproduction is not included and not yet legislated for in Ireland. GCN recently interviewed a father whose family were excluded from the Bill and may be forced to move to the UK to gain legal recognition.

“If I could say anything to Simon Harris I would say why is my family excluded from this bill, why has he turned his back on gay fathers. There can only be one genetic parent in a female same-sex family and in a male same-sex family. Surely we should all have equal status and equal rights.”