Ireland Said Yes

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Paul Macgregor (Series Producer) chats to academic, activist and author Katherine O'Donnell about her memories of 2015, before and beyond. Katherine is Professor of the History of Ideas at UCD School of Philosophy. She has been an activist for many years, specialising in feminist justice issues and LGBTQ+ activism. She was a co-founding member of the Irish Lesbian and Gay Archive, now deposited as a living archive with the National Library of Ireland. She works with the Justice for Magdalenes Research group, who were instrumental in having the State issue an apology to the victims and survivors of the Magdalene Institutions, and in successfully lobbying for the Magdalene Redress Scheme. In 2023, she published her first novel Slant, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Kate O’Brien Award.

Photograph of Katherine O'Donnell courtesy of Emma Jervis.

https://www.instagram.com/emmajervisphoto

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Recorded in June 2025, Shane chats to campaigner Ranae von Meding about their ongoing fight for equality for LGBT parents in Ireland and the legal limbo that many queer Irish families often find themselves in, as parents struggle for recognition if they have children through donor conception or surrogacy.

After a lengthy delay, the Oireachtas joint committee on health made recommendations in October 2025 on its report on pre-legislative scrutiny of the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) (Amendment) Bill. The committee made 18 recommendations in total, including that the bill must include a process to recognise the parentage of those who had children through surrogacy while domiciled abroad. The report stated that provision should also be made to offer a path to parenthood for Irish citizens returning home who are in same sex relationships and whose children were both conceived and born abroad in countries that don’t recognise both same sex parents. Strikingly, the committee also recommended that there should be a path to parenthood for children of same sex female couples who are conceived outside of clinical settings. This is a scenario which to date, the government and the Minister for Health has currently rejected, despite it being the lived reality of many members of the LGBT community.

More updates on Ranae's campaign, please visit: https://www.instagram.com/equalityforchildren

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