Firstly, this case shows the blaringly urgent and long-overdue need for regulation of assisted reproduction in Ireland.
Secondly, it further compounds the need of the Civil Partnership Bill (which will be introduced over the next few months) to mention children, and to afford those children’s parents their parental rights to the child that they have raised. The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) released a statement yesterday which stated that
the judgment highlighted “the importance and urgency of providing legal support and recognition” of the many children being parented by same-sex couples in Ireland, which he said should form part of the Civil Partnership Bill which is moving through the Dáil.
“Providing a legal framework for parenting, with the welfare of children the paramount guiding principle, will also help clarify obligations and responsibilities from the outset,” he said.
The differences between the High Courts decision and that of the Supreme Court is very strange, and proves that every judge has a very different interpretation of the Irish Constitution.
In the High Court ruling, Mr Justice Hedigan dismissed the case as there was nothing in Irish law to say that a family of two women and a child has
”has any lesser right to be recognised as a de facto family than a family composed of a man and woman unmarried to each other and a child”
whereas the Supreme Court found that
the lesbian couple and child are not a family under the Constitution and ruled the High Court erred in finding they are a “de facto family” entitled to invoke family rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The Constitution has been interpreted by the courts as defining the family as based on the marriage of a man and woman and there is no institution here of a “de facto family”, it said.
Unsurprisingly, the Iona Institute, which I have blogged about recently, welcomed the decision. David Quinn, the directior of this group yesterday stated that
“This decision respects the rights of both fathers and children. A biological father has a right to know and have access to his child, and a child has a right to know and have access to his or her biological father.”
This is a statement that I disagree strongly with, as I firmly believe that the best interests of the child should supercede the right of the biological father. This man signed an agreement with the lesbian couple before the child was born, in which he agreed to give up his parental rights to the child and instead take up the role of “favourite uncle”. This agreement also stated that he would have no financial or other obligations towards the child, and his contact with the child would be by agreement with the couple.
Just because he changed his mind later is no reason for him to be granted access in my opinion. He knew what he was getting into when he entered into this arrangement and this agreement, and thereby gave up any future parental relationship to the child.
Speaking as an adopted person, I know that biology means sweet fuck all when it comes to what makes a family. Once a child is loved by their parents, be they a man and woman, two women or two men, they’re going to have a good life. My biological parents signed away all parental rights to me when they gave me up, and rightly so. I have had a fantastic life, raised by two people who love my brother (also adopted) and I very much. If either of my biological parents had one day changed their minds and demanded access or guardianship rights to me, should they have gotten it? No way. And why? Because that definitely wouldn’t have been in my best interests, and its wouldn’t have been fair on my parents. And in this situation, when he signed that contract, he gave away those same rights. So for him to be given acces now is unfair, wrong, and is going to confuse the child a lot.
And as for the court refusing to recognise the lesbian couple as a de facto family is both upsetting and insulting to the highest degree. They have raised this child since 2006, providing him with a stable and loving home environment, and all of a sudden that has been upended. Worse, the partner of the biological mother has less rights than a sperm donor!!
That’s all I have to say on this for a moment, I may come back to it a later stage though.
Also, as a parting:
Says it all really.
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