It is the presence or absence of inheritable characteristics that is the test of whether a person is or is not a parent under Irish law, a High Court hearing into surrogacy and motherhood was told this morning.
Gerard Durcan SC said under the Status of Children Act 1987 a child was entitled to apply to the court for a declaration that an individual is his father or mother. It was clear from the Act that parentage was to be attributed "on the basis of the presence or absence of inheritable characteristics".
DNA tests showed the surrogate mother in this case was excluded as a parent of the twins at the centre of the application "because there isn't the necessary presence of inheritable characteristics".
Mr Durcan was making closing submissions in a landmark case challenging the refusal of the State to allow the genetic mother of twins born to a surrogate mother to be listed as the children's mother on their birth certificates.
He has sought a declaration from the court on behalf of the twins and their genetic parents that the genetic parents are the legal parents of the twins.
At present, the surrogate mother, their aunt, is their legal parent, though the children live with the genetic parents. She is the sister of the genetic mother in the case, and is not objecting to the couple’s application.