Under Irish law, the mother of a child is the woman who gives birth to the child. This principle was confirmed in 2014 by the Supreme Court and it applies even if the child has been conceived using a donated egg.



Parts 2 and 3 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 provide for parentage through donor-assisted reproduction. These Parts are to be commenced, in due course, by the Minister for Health. The Act makes provision for parentage to be assigned retrospectively, through a court-based procedure, to the second member of a couple who have a donor-conceived child, but only where certain conditions are fulfilled. Where the conditions are not fulfilled, parentage will be assigned under current law, which means that only the woman who gives birth and the biological father may be included on the birth certificate. The position is the same for both heterosexual and same-sex couples.