An Irish-Canadian couple are outraged after being denied an Irish passport for their young son.

Jay O’Callaghan and Aaron O’Bryan told a local news channel that they will not be granted an Irish passport for their son Jake unless they identify the child's biological father. Doing so would leave the other with no parental rights in Ireland.

The Toronto-based couple said that they both provided sperm to fertilize the donor egg that was implanted in the surrogate who gave birth to their son. The couple chose not to find out whose genetic material was passed on to Jake.

“We never want to know,” O’Callaghan told CTV News Channel, “We’re his dads.”

O'Callaghan and O'Bryan are both permanent residents currently awaiting their Canadian passports, but they want Jake to hold dual citizenship. 

They claim that they are being met with silence from the Irish government on the matter despite sending over 150 emails in the last six months. After little to no contact, they reportedly received a call asking about Jake's biological father.

According to the couple, Jake's DNA would have to be submitted to an Irish court to prove who the father is. In antiquated laws, the surrogate and her partner could actually be considered Jake's legal parents in Ireland.

They noted that if they were a male-female couple, Jake would already have been issued a passport.

Please watch and share our appearance on Elaine today

Posted by Jay O'Callaghan on Tuesday, 10 July 2018

“It seems quite unfair that just because we are two men that we would have to do something like that,” O’Bryan said.

“We feel we are now being forced to go down this route of DNA testing, which is not something that we ever wanted to do,” O’Callaghan added.

The couple are calling on Simon Harris, Minister for Health, for guidance on the matter.

“We haven’t had a definite answer yet. We don’t know what position we are in right now,” O’Bryan said.

“We passed same-sex marriage three years ago,” O’Callaghan said. “Families like ours are still being excluded.”

Just introduced important legislation in Dáil so we can commence law that will recognise both females in a same sex couples as parents. Another step on the road to living in a more inclusive, equal country. Lots more to do! Assisted Human Reproduction Bill next big piece of work! pic.twitter.com/VFCqkyb3iz

— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) July 11, 2018