Marie Moloney (Labour)
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I thank the group for coming in today. The witnesses are very brave to come and bare their souls to us. I thought I did not know any transgender people but then I thought perhaps I do but I am not aware of it. It is not a tag people go around wearing. We go about our own lives and do not realise the practical problems people encounter, such as getting a passport. What happens in those instances? Are transgender people turned away or are they accepted? Do they have to give an explanation in front of a queue of people? We take travel for granted but this is a practical issue for transgender people.

This is Ireland and we know how long it takes the country to change or accept something different. We can see that with what is happening with the X case and how long it has taken us to wake up to the fact that things must be changed. Senator Bacik is introducing a civil partnership Bill in the Seanad. I have not given a lot of thought to this issue but I have been woken up today to the fact there are people who need help. Someone once asked me what I thought President Higgins would achieve by meeting young people and talking to them. I hope it would result in the acceptance of diversity of religion, sex, culture and race.

This is a big issue and I must look at the Argentina model. I will not sit here and pretend I know about this. We have a lot to do to educate ourselves but the group has brought this issue to the fore today and I will certainly seek to ensure we do whatever we can to help.