Mr. Gearóid Kenny Moore:

I thank the Senator for her question. As I mentioned in my opening statement, the reality is that as a gay parent and as a parent of a child born through surrogacy, like many of the other parents attending, we find workarounds for most issues. However, maternity benefit is one we are not able to find a workaround for. That seems to be due to the fact maternity leave and benefits are inextricably linked with mothers. I do not know the logistics and the legal issues that need to be overcome to make that available to same-sex male parents. I assume maternity leave and the right to it is underpinned by a piece of legislation so clearly, in my humble opinion, that is the source that needs to be addressed in order to allow it to be extended to gay male parents.

Most gay male parents I know have not received maternity benefit. If they do it is simply at the discretion of the companies they work for and it is very much an unusual situation when it does happen. The majority of companies do not provide for that. Sometimes companies will extend adoptive leave to same-sex male parents, so that could be something that is adjusted to incorporate families like mine. To summarise, maternity benefit is provided for through legislation and that legislation is what needs to be looked at. The crucial thing is that with the legislation proposed for domestic surrogacy - and I assume something is similarly being considered for international surrogacy - because the surrogate mother at birth is recognised as the legal parent and intended parents have to go through a long process post-birth in order to have the parental rights assigned to them, that prevents maternity benefit being assigned immediately upon birth. That is another aspect that would need to be addressed, again just in my personal opinion, to allow gay dads to access maternity benefits. However, it is a crucial issue because it prevents us from spending the time we would like to spend with our children.