Ms Sara Philips:

Any proposal to enact legislation represents progress because there is no legislation in place. It is 20 years since Dr. Lydia Foy asked for this change. A number of people have said it is very welcome that we are considering the legislation at this point in the process. While it is progress, there are still lots of problems. To return to a point I made in my opening statement, many issues speak to the everyday lives we have to live. The issues with the proposed legislation would still continue to cause day-to-day problems for transgender individuals and also transgender children.

On the question of age, we need to remember that at the age of 16 years an individual can actually access medical treatment of his or her own volition without parental consent. If a person accesses this medical treatment, he or she is left in limbo, in which the person's body has changed physically but this physical change is not recognised. I facilitate the transgender sports group in Dublin to which many young people come regularly. I reported a story previously in which the Passport Office refused a new passport for a young man because it was not considered he was in transition long enough, yet he was clearly masculine. If I stood him in front of members today, nobody would recognise that he was a transgender individual. The hormone treatments may act quickly and the individual's appearance may change very quickly. When such individuals go to school with the changed physical attributes of male or female and that is not recognised in the education system, it causes a major problem. From the point of view of being progressive, the legislation is definitely the next step. I echo the comments of members, including Deputies Brendan Griffin andAodhán Ó Ríordáin, that it needs to be a process. This needs to be fixed and adjusted. It is crucial that age is identified as an issue because I knew my gender when I was five years old. I know lots of people do and it is a problem to wait until the age of 18 years.