Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. The discussion we have had has been interesting. I will touch on the issue Senator Ruane raised. I practised for a long number of years as a family solicitor and came across the presumption of parentage. When a woman is married, has formed a new relationship and has a child with a new partner, she needs her husband to rebut the presumption that he is the father. That often happens but I have come across cases where the husband is no longer contactable or, in abusive situations, refuses to do it. It has created a lot of problems for women trying to register the birth of their children or get medical cards and PPS numbers. It is a big issue so we need to deal with it. It would help with the issue of international surrogacy as well.

On the emergency travel certificate, what happens if the intending parent who is an Irish citizen is not the biological parent? Do they default to some other country? If they are living in this country but, let us say, in a gay relationship and the biological father is from outside the EU and has not yet been naturalised as an Irish citizen, does the child automatically get a passport of the country of the biological father?