My surrogacy sister carried my baby 'out of pure love'

In the first of a two-part special, Neil Michael talks to Marie McPhilemy whose sister acted as her surrogate in order for her to start a family. However, despite the struggle to have her own daughter, Marie is "non-existent in the eyes of the law" when it comes to legislation.

(Left to right) Sharon O’Shea (sister of Marie), Marie McPhilemy, her daughter Lucy and Marie's sister Catherine O’Donnell. “Sharon just said it like she was going to do the shopping, ‘sure, I'll carry a baby for you’.” Photo: Joe Dunne

Marie McPhilemy knew early on in life she could never give birth.

Doctors treating her for kidney problems when she was 16 found abnormalities with her womb. She didn’t think much of it at the time when her parents sat her down and told her what the doctors had told them because, at the time, the last thing on her mind was having a baby.