An Irish woman based in Australia has said she was “devastated” after being told to return her daughter’s passport as it had been “approved in error” because she did not physically give birth to the child.
Eimear Murray (38), originally from Portmarnock, Co Dublin, and her fiance Lynsey Yeaman applied for Irish passports for their two daughters, aged two and three, earlier this year.
The couple, who live in Perth, submitted both applications using similar documentation and sent them in the same envelope.
They subsequently received a passport for their older daughter while the other application progressed.
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However, the Department of Foreign Affairs wrote to them last month saying the first passport had been “approved in error”, and that both children were ineligible for Irish citizenship as Yeaman was the birth mother.
“We sincerely apologise for this and regret that our standards were not met in this regard,” it said.
Under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, citizenship through descent to children born abroad is granted through their birth mother, their genetic father or their adoptive parents.
Last year, the State appealed a High Court ruling that found failings in how Irish citizenship laws treated children born abroad to same-sex parents. A decision is expected this year.
The couple, both of whom are legally recognised as parents on their children’s Australian birth certificates, said they were unaware of the Supreme Court case, and assumed, “in this day and age”, that their applications would be granted.
To leave their daughter’s passport application open until the Supreme Court makes a decision, the couple were told they would need to return their older daughter’s passport.
Murray, who works in finance, said she was “devastated”.
“I felt like it invalidated me as their mother,” she said, adding that their three-year-old was “so excited” when her Irish passport arrived.
“It just kind of shattered us. We’ve been through so much stuff to have our family, and for someone in an email to take my rights away, in a sense, it’s heartbreaking.”
It took the couple five years to conceive, with both trying IVF at different times. Overall, they made 17 attempts, and suffered seven miscarriages before having their daughters.
“We both did try IVF, so it’s quite insulting. It’s basically saying Eimear’s not the parent,” said Yeaman (44), a public servant originally from Forfar, Scotland.
“You kind of think you’re over what is probably the hardest part of your life, and then you’re just faced with another hurdle.”
She described her fiance as a “proud, passionate Irish woman”, with the couple opting for Irish passports as opposed to British. They had previously discussed moving to Ireland from Australia.
“If, God forbid, something happened to Lynsey, and I was to move back home to Ireland with the girls, now I’m kind of doubting that I would be accepted as their mother,” Murray said.
They plan to return the passport to keep the application open.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it could not comment on individual cases, but noted it was a “complex legal area”.
William McLoughlin, a barrister representing the parents involved in the Supreme Court case, described the granting and delivery of the passport in error as “outrageous”.
“It’s been 11 years since the referendum on same-sex marriage, and we’re still not equal. Same-sex parents shouldn’t have to go through all this difficulty just to get their parent-child relationship recognised,” he said.
McLoughlin said he had taken on more than a dozen cases involving same-sex parents in similar circumstances since the State appealed to the Supreme Court.
