Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian have two daughters, Blake and Blu, through a surrogate, Dowling’s sister Aoife, and she is recognised on their birth certificate but not him
Former Big Brother host Brian Dowling has hit out surrogacy laws after he revealed he is not recognised as the father of the two children he shares with his partner.
Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian have two daughters, Blake and Blu, through a surrogate, Dowling’s sister Aoife, and she is recognised on their birth certificate but not him, he says.
The Irish TV presenter, 46, told ITV’s Loose Women: "I think in Ireland, the lack of legislation, I think people sometimes always see surrogates as victims and my sister Aoife is certainly no victim.
"She’s a very strong, strong woman, and just so graceful and just handled it with… I don’t know where she gets her strength from, honestly, because what she’s done is so courageous, and kind of put herself in the firing line as well for a lot of hatred, a lot of trolling."
He added that everyone has "the same rights over my children," as he does currently.
Dowling says: "Arthur is the biological father of both our children. I even hate saying that sentence, because I feel like it, degrades and devalues my relationship with my children at the moment.
"Aoife is the legal mother to both our children, not the biological mother, because we used an egg donor, and, Arthur is biological father, so they’re on the birth certificate. I’m not.