Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Gender Recognition Bill 2014. While it only affects a small minority of the population, it is significant legislation and a step in the right direction for those who will avail of its provisions. The pace of society to embrace attitudinal and social change has traditionally been slow. In that context, this Bill can be commended as being quite progressive and inclusive in the way it addresses the issue of gender recognition, an issue that has always been there but has only become a campaigning issue in the past decade. Unfortunately, this issue will challenge some people of a particularly conservative disposition who will see it as unnatural. There is nothing more unnatural than denying another human being the right to be happy being who they are. The Bill will directly affect a relatively small number of people but it is significant for the attitudinal change that it reflects, as well as the legislative change that it heralds. As Members opposite have pointed out, this legislation is far from perfect and ideal. However, I believe it is a step in the right direction.

In my time as a public representative, I have had the opportunity only once to provide assistance to a transgender person who attended my constituency clinic. This interaction provided me with an insight into the struggles and challenges they face. I was genuinely touched by the story she told me. With tears in her eyes, she recounted how her former wife and, sadly, her children had shunned her since she had embraced her transgender identity. I hope that lady is watching what is happening this week in the Oireachtas and takes some comfort and hope that the Government is legislating on this issue. Her case showed the cost of becoming the person one is can be isolation, not just from one’s community but from one’s family as well.

Yesterday, along with other parliamentarians, I met a very fine man, a father, who was advocating on behalf of his transgender son. It was very refreshing to see a father embrace his son’s identify and support him. He is a role model for all fathers and his son can be immensely proud of him in ensuring the passage of this legislation.

The legislation is welcome but it is not ideal and there is room for improvement. Several provisions are less than ideal such as the requirement, arising from the Constitution, for the applicant for gender recognition to be single. I accept this must remain the case pending the outcome of the forthcoming referendum on marriage equality. Will the Minister provide a commitment that change in this regard will be among the first actions of the Government following what we hope will be the successful endorsement of the constitutional amendment?

There is also some dissatisfaction with restrictions placed on applicants who are between 16 and 18 years old. The nature or extent of those restrictions, however, appears to be excessively burdensome to the point the legislation may border on unworkable for persons under 18 years of age. In these cases, for example, an application to the Circuit Family Court for an exemption must be supported by two medical reports, one from the child’s primary treating physician, the other from an independent endocrinologist or psychiatrist. The need for such rigorous medical evidence is questionable in principle. What is being sought here is an administrative change, after all, not a surgical one.

On a practical level, this provision may also be unworkable as a result of our well-documented difficulties with waiting times to see medical specialists. In many cases, if a person applies for an appointment to see a consultant endocrinologist when they are 16, particularly given that waiting lists are prioritised according to the clinical urgency of the case, they may well be over 18 before they get to see the doctor. The Irish College of General Practitioners has written to the Minister seeking the inclusion of general practitioners in the definition of “primary treating medical practitioner”, an inclusion the Minister should consider.

There is merit in the proposals to extend this to children younger than 16 in the case of intersex individuals where there is adequate medical evidence to support it. So many of the prejudices and challenges faced by transgender people take root and manifest themselves in a particularly cruel form at school-going age. It is only right children in such a position should be afforded the same right and protection at this stage as they would in later life. It is at that early stage that prejudice and attitudinal hang-ups need to be tackled. For that reason alone, this section should be revisited.

In broad terms, I welcome this Bill as an extremely progressive step in the cause of gender recognition. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, on progressing this legislation, as well as acknowledging the fine work of Senators Katherine Zappone and Jillian van Turnhout and Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh on it. Some work remains to be done on some of the specifics. On its enactment, however, this legislation will give hope to a number of people who have been left marginalised and isolated for too long in our society.

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