A same-sex couple who had their request for an Irish passport for their son rejected last year have finally been issued with the document.
Jay O’Callaghan and Aaron O’Byrne emigrated to Canada after they got married, and when they applied for an Irish passport for their son Jake, they were met with a number of difficulties.
Last July Jay spoke to The Independent about the bureaucracy that surrounded the application:
“I wanted an Irish passport for my son, he has two Irish parents after all. We didn’t hear anything for six months after multiple emails and phone calls. In the end, I wrote them a letter and six months later I get a call.”
Jay continued:
“They asked who the biological father was, and I asked why that was relevant. They told me it would be relevant under Irish Family Law, and I was shocked to discover that our surrogate and her husband could be considered the legal parents of our son at home, even though neither of them has a biological connection to him.”
This morning, Jay got in touch with GCN and revealed that the couple has finally been granted an Irish passport for their son.
Jay said:
“After a year of back and forth with the passport office, we were finally issued with a passport for our son Jake a few weeks ago.”
He continued, adding that the family laws which delayed the passport’s issuing have not been amended:
“The current situation for same-sex male parents has not changed since last year, even after Minister Simon Harris announced that the issue will be dealt with when the Dáil returned in September 2018. Although we have Jake’s passport, the Irish state does not recognise me and my husband as equal in relation to the rights of our son.”
Jay commented on the current level of misinformation surrounding the rights of same-sex parents and their children:
“Some publicity has come out about progress being made for same-sex female parents, but even this information is very misleading as it does not include the majority of same-sex female families, as it lays down strict stipulations which only apply to a small number of families.”
Members of LGBT+ Ireland are due to met with the Oireachtas today, to discuss the legal challenges faced by same-sex parents and their children.
© 2019 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
Support GCN
GCN has been a vital, free-of-charge information service for Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community since 1988.
During this global COVID pandemic, we like many other organisations have been impacted greatly in the way we can do business and produce. This means a temporary pause to our print publication and live events and so now more than ever we need your help to continue providing this community resource digitally.
GCN is a registered charity with a not-for-profit business model and we need your support. If you value having an independent LGBTQ+ media in Ireland, you can help from as little as €1.99 per month. Support Ireland’s free, independent LGBTQ+ media.
comments. Please sign in to comment.