An Irish woman who is in a same-sex relationship was told to return her daughter’s passport as it had been issued “in error”, since she is not the birth mother of the child. Born in Dublin, the woman now lives in Australia with her partner and two daughters.

Eimear Murray is originally from Portmarnock, and has two daughters aged two and three with her fiancé Lynsey Yeaman. The couple made 17 attempts and suffered seven miscarriages before being able to conceive through IVF, with Yeaman being the birth mother for both children.

The family lives in Perth, and both women are legally recognised as parents on their children’s Australian birth certificates. Earlier this year, the same-sex couple applied for Irish passports for both their daughters.

They submitted similar documentation for both applications, which they sent in the same envelope. They then received a passport for their eldest daughter, while the other application progressed separately.

However, as reported by The Irish Times, last month the couple received a letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs saying that the first passport had been “approved in error”. The letter further stated that both their daughters were ineligible for Irish citizenship due to the fact that Murray was not the birth mother.

“We sincerely apologise for this and regret that our standards were not met in this regard,” the letter read.

As established in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, Irish passports are granted through descent to children born abroad through birth mother, their genetic father or their adoptive parents. However, there is a legal gap in how Irish citizenship laws address children born abroad to same-sex parents.

Last year, a High Court ruling identified this ‘legislative lacuna’, requiring Oireachtas intervention. The State appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on the case this year.

Murray and Yeaman were told that, to leave their passport applications open until the Supreme Court’s decision, they would have to return their eldest daughter’s passport. They plan to do so in order to have a chance at getting passports for both their daughters.

 

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Speaking about the outcome of their applications, Murray said: “I felt like it invalidated me as their mother. It just kind of shattered us.

“We’ve been through so much stuff to have our family, and for someone in an email to take my rights away, in a sense, it’s heartbreaking.”

Yeaman echoed these sentiments, saying: “We both did try IVF, so it’s quite insulting. It’s basically saying Eimear’s not the parent.

“You kind of think you’re over what is probably the hardest part of your life, and then you’re just faced with another hurdle.”

The couple said they had considered moving to Ireland from Australia. “If, God forbid, something happened to Lynsey, and I was to move back home to Ireland with the girls, now I’m kind of doubting that I would be accepted as their mother,” Murray said.

William McLoughlin, a barrister who represents the parents involved in the Supreme Court case, commented on the situation, saying, “It’s outrageous”.

“It’s over 11 years since the referendum on same-sex marriage, and we’re still not equal,” McLoughlin added. “Same-sex parents shouldn’t have to go through all this difficulty just to get their parent-child relationship recognised.

“The Irish State have created a two-tier system of recognising some same-sex parents; they’re recognised for succession, family law, educational purposes but not for getting a passport. This makes no sense.”