Up to 200 mothers of children born by surrogate mothers are now entitled to go to court to be named as the legal parents of their children on foot of a High Court ruling this week.

Fertility clinics are also considering whether to offer surrogacy services within Ireland, depending on whether there is an appeal to the Supreme Court, the Irish Times reports.

While Irish law does not currently prohibit surrogacy, legal uncertainty means most clinics do not offer it.  

Until this week’s ruling, most mothers of children born by surrogate (birth) mothers were unable to be legally recognised as their parents.

A couple successfully challenged a decision by the State that only the birth mother could be registered as the legal mother.

It ruled that the biological parents of twins born to a surrogate mother, in this case the sister of the biological mother, could be acknowledged as the legal parents of the children.

The State has less than three weeks to decide whether to appeal. Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has declined to comment, except to say he hopes to publish legislation that will address “certain aspects of the law” this year.

Dr David Walsh of the Sims Clinic in Dublin said it hoped to provide “altruistic” surrogacy. This involves cases where a surrogate is paid only for expenses incurred. Dr Sandra Brett of Beacon Care Fertility also said it was examining offering surrogacy services.