Mr. Andy Mannion:

I think it is ridiculous to ask young transgender people to wait to reach 18 years before their gender is recognised. Persons know their gender before age 18. One spends five to six years in secondary school and one must spend every single day in the wrong uniform. It should be a simple process for pupils to request the board of management of the school to be allowed to wear the uniform of their legal gender. That is one reason that the acquired gender of young people needs to be recognised in the legislation.

I dropped out of school as have some close friends as a result of the difficulties that result from not being able to have one's legal gender recognised. Having the correct foundation in life is just as important as other elements of life. If one cannot start off properly what is the quality of the rest of one's life? That is the reason it is so important to include young people. The issue of informed consent on surgical procedures is a completely separate issue, this is a legal issue of being able to change the gender marker. As one is able to change one's name by deed poll the process of changing one's gender should be equally simple. It is a common process for parents who remarry to change the name of a child.