Two Irish women have become one of the first same-sex couples in Ireland to be recognised as legal parents of their children, after a five year campaign.

CEO of ‘Equality for Children’, Ranae von Meding appeared on Wednesday in a Dublin court where her legal wife Audrey Rooney was recognised as a parent to their two daughters Ava (5) and Arya (2). One partner provided the egg while a male donor provided the sperm, and the other partner had the resulting embryo implanted in her womb for gestation.

The father’s name does not appear on the birth cert. Many donor-conceived people go looking for their biological parents in later life.