Gay couple sue foreign minister over son’s passport denial – The Times

An Irishman and his British husband who live in the UK have taken legal action against Simon Coveney, the minister for foreign affairs, over his refusal to grant their son, born through surrogacy, an Irish passport and citizenship.

The boy’s genetic father is British, and the Irish plaintiff was also granted a parental order under British law in 2015. The couple have a second child who has an Irish passport as his genetic father is the Irish man in the couple.

In a two-day hearing last week in the High Court, lawyers for the state said the only legitimate interpretation of the 1956 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act is for “parent” to be defined as a child’s birth mother or genetic father. The plaintiffs argued