Mr. Brian Tobin:

The MR case is before the Supreme Court. I am not entirely certain what is happening in the Supreme Court, but I will sum up briefly what occurred in the High Court. The wife involved in the case was infertile and her sister kindly agreed to act as a surrogate. It was a very amicable arrangement. She was actually a gestational surrogate because it was possible to use the reproductive material - the terminology used in the Bill - from the husband and the wife. The issue was that wife was unable to carry a baby to term. Her sister bore twins for her and the issue which arose was that the married couple wanted to be registered as their legal parents. The birth mother and the husband could be registered under existing law but there was no provision for the wife - the genetic mother who had provided the ovum - to be registered as the twins' legal mother. They wrote to An t-Ard Chláraitheoir who responded that his hands were tied and that there was nothing he could do. They proceeded to the High Court and Mr. Justice Abbott found that the parents of the twins were the genetic parents and that the old maxim of mater semper certa est- mother is always certain - in this instance no longer applied. Whereas usually the child's mother would be the birth mother, in an instance like this, where others provided the genetic material, the mother was determined to be the genetic mother, namely, the wife from the married couple. An order was handed down that the register of births be changed to reflect that fact in this instance. The State is appealing the decision in order to have the maxim to which I refer restored.