Surrogacy must be either banned or fully legalised in order to bring clarity to the situation, leading child law expert Geoffrey Shannon (pictured) has said.

Speaking yesterday in the wake of yesterday’s High Court ruling that the biological mother of twins born to a surrogate is the legal mother, Mr Shannon, the State’s child rapporteur, said that children “should not be left in a legal limbo,” The Irish Times reports.

He said: “We can’t turn a blind eye to surrogacy; we need to make provision for it in law or make it illegal.”

He said a child born through surrogacy could potentially have five individuals involved with it; the surrogate mother, the commissioning mother, the egg donor, the commissioning father and the sperm donor.

Yesterday’s ruling means that the legal principle ‘the mother is always certain’ no longer applies in Irish law unless the Government chooses to introduce amending legislation.

The genetic mother of the twins, who were born to her sister using her embryos, challenged the refusal of the Chief Registrar to record her name on the birth certificates.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said he was preparing a new Bill that would address “certain aspects of the law on surrogacy” and he hoped to publish the Family Relationships and Children Bill later this year.

The Iona Institute called for a ban on surrogacy to because the practice gives two or more women a part in the creation of the same child and creates an ambiguity about who the mother of a child really is.

Surrogacy is banned most other European countries and the European Court of Human Rights has upheld the right of member states of the Council of Europe to ban the practice.

The National Infertility Support and Information Group welcomed the ruling and said it hoped progress could be made on regulating surrogacy, as recommended in the report of the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction in 2005.

The Adoption Rights Alliance said that yesterday’s ruling could pave the way for adopted people so far denied knowledge of their biological parents to insist upon the right to know.

Spokeswoman Susan Lohan said: “We would welcome the court’s indication that every child, irrespective of their conception, has a right to know their genetic parents. We trust the State and the courts now will recognise these rights for Ireland’s population of 60,000 adopted people.”

Support for the High Court ruling came from the Marriage Equality campaign group which said it was an important step in the law recognising the full diversity of families that existed in Irish society.

The National Infertility Support and Information Group also welcomed the ruling.

Chairwoman Helen Browne said: “A call for regulation was made in the Report of the Commission of Assisted Human Reproduction in 2005, and although it has been a long time coming, we hope progress can now be made for the sake of all the other individuals and couples who consider surrogacy, often after exhausting all the other options to them.”