Westlife’s Mark Feehily speaks on surrogacy legislation in Ireland

“The children are here. They’re born and they deserve to be recognised."

Westlife’s Mark Feehily is this week’s guest on Aldi’s ‘Mamia & Me’ Podcast hosted by actor and mother Amy Huberman. Back in 2019, Mark and his partner Cailean welcomed a baby girl into their family but Irish legislation is still far behind where it needs to be when it comes to the rights of same sex couples. During this week's podcast Mark talks about how Irish legislation has impacted his family and why it needs to change. https://www.instagram.com/p/CO078j6rV1r/

"The children are here, they’re born and they deserve to be recognised. They deserve to be taken care of legally.” As a father I feel a duty to do what I can to create a better world for my daughter to grow up in. "

Mark went on to talk about how he feels a lot of empathy for other couples going through the same process and while he admits every parent's journey to parenthood is different and unique, too many same sex parents are facing the same struggles. He said that many other same sex couples have contacted him for advice and while the Westlife singer says he's no expert, he's happy to give any type of insight he can to other parents.

"At the moment in Ireland the legislation is designed around the more traditional heterosexual, man and a woman have a baby. 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."

You can hear Mark's full interview tomorrow June 15 on the second episode of Aldi’s new podcast series 'Mamia & Me' which will be available to listen to on Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and iTunes.