Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian will share their surrogacy journey with a brand new RTÉ documentary.
The couple is currently preparing for their bundle of joy, due next month. Brian’s sister Aoife is carrying the child for the two and is set to give birth this September.
Documenting their journey to parenthood, the RTE special, called ‘A Very Modern Irish Family’ will show the highs and lows of welcoming a child into the world through surrogacy.
It will also touch upon the lack of legislation Irish law has for such circumstances, lobbying for change.
Fellow celebrity, Mark Feehily has also recently opened up about the issue. Speaking on the Late Late Show earlier in the year, he spoke about the campaign he’s currently working on to change surrogacy laws here in Ireland.
Explaining, he said:
“At the moment in Ireland the legislation is designed around the sort of more traditional heterosexual a man and a woman have a baby, and at the moment families who have children through surrogacy are having to squeeze themselves into the rules and the laws that have been made up for a completely different situation.”
At the moment only biological fathers of a cild born through surrogacy can be recognised as a parent, which means their partner has no legal relationship with the child. After two years, they can apply through the courts to become a guardian.
“Imagine someone walked up to you and said, ‘That’s not your kid’. Effectively, the current law says that for a lot of people in the country,” said Mark.
Brian and Arthur are yet to film their experience with taking their baby home and welcoming them into the family. The documentary has no release date as of yet but is expected to land sometime in 2023.