High Court grants leave to challenge Irish passport refusal for daughter of same-sex couple

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The High Court has granted an Irish woman and her daughter leave to seek judicial review of the refusal of an Irish passport for the child. The case concerns a couple married in Ireland; one is an Irish citizen and the other is from New Zealand. Their daughter, conceived through IVF in the UK, was born in 2024. The mother from New Zealand obtained a New Zealand passport for the child, while the Irish Passport Office refused an Irish passport.

The applicant says she is named as a parent on the child’s UK birth certificate and seeks a declaration that she is the child’s legal parent under Irish law. She is also challenging the constitutionality of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as applied in the case, and seeks a declaration that it is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. These are claims and requests before the court, not findings on their merits.

Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty granted leave for judicial review and adjourned the case to 12 May.