Ms Elaine Cohalan:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to give our input today. In Ireland, the majority of children born into LGBTQ+ families are prevented from having a legal parent-child relationship with both of their parents. The legal protections, security and status that come from a legal-parent child relationship are not available to these children. Children of the majority of LGBTQ+ parents are therefore not currently treated equally by the State. Equality for Children, EFC, was formed in 2019 by a group of LGBTQ+ parents and allies with the sole purpose of righting this wrong. We are a not-for-profit, volunteer-led organisation and currently represent 132 LGBTQ+ families.

Our guiding principle is that it is not equal unless it includes everyone. We believe that, regardless of conception method, no child should be left behind or outside of the law when it comes to their fundamental rights to family life, equality before the law, social security, status, and protection by the State. Thousands of children in Ireland are living in vulnerable, precarious situations simply because of how they were conceived. All same-sex couples who want to have children require assisted human reproduction or assisted pregnancy to conceive a child. The CSO reported in 2016 that there were over 6,000 same-sex cohabiting couples in Ireland and between 2016 and 2020 there were 3,433 same-sex marriages in Ireland.

This is not a marginal issue. The lack of legislation in this area affects many other families, including families where a parent experiences infertility or has a disability or medical condition that prevents them from safely conceiving or carrying a child.

Working together with partners across these stakeholder groups, we have published a position paper outlining six key recommendations that we believe will address the inequalities that children born through assisted human reproduction, including surrogacy, experience. These recommendations are outlined in our submission and include that the recommendations from the Joint Committee on Health are addressed in upcoming legislation. and that all of the recommendations outlined in Professor O’Mahony's report are adopted in that legislation. Today, we will outline the significant negative impact that lack of legislation in this area has on the lives of ours and other children born into LGBTQ+ families in Ireland. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste.