Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This legislation is a very positive step that will allow a person to be recognised by the State in what they feel is their true gender. I spoke to a member of TENI, the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, during the week. He described it as the State providing practical and symbolic support for the people involved, a point with which I wholeheartedly agree. Ireland is the only country in the European Union that does not provide the possibility of legal gender recognition of transgender and intersex people.

I thank the Minister for bringing forward this legislation. This is the second Bill brought before the Dáil in a week that shows as a nation, as a society and as a people that we are growing. While it is taking longer than it should, we are beginning to be more understanding of other people's needs and respect others for who they are and how they live their lives.

TENI has stated, “Legislation must reflect the lived realities of our community and enshrine the privacy, dignity and human rights of all”. Last week, the Children and Family Relationships Bill clearly showed us life is not so black and white. While a child should be brought up by the birth parents, where possible and when practical, that is not always the case and families come in many different forms. One can look at people in the same manner. No two people are the same. Everybody brings their own personal touch to the world. Life would be very boring if we were all the same. As legislators, we must ensure that while people are different, every person is treated with the same respect and every person is allowed to live their own life.

This is about allowing a person to be recognised by the State in what they feel is their true gender. I hope that in the State recognising this, then society will follow. I am sorry it has taken so long for this legislation to come before the Dáil. I am also sorry it has taken a High Court ruling to move this issue to the forefront. Unfortunately, sometimes when a small minority of people in society are affected by an issue, their voices may not be heard. I acknowledge the battle that has been faced by Dr. Lydia Foy and by other members of the transgender community to get to this point today.

I have gone through the legislation. While for the most part I agree with it, some questions need to be asked and other areas need to be further debated and consideration given to them. Section 9 deals with the requirements of an application for a gender recognition certificate. It states the application must be accompanied by a statement from the applicant’s primary treating medical practitioner. To me that would mean his or her GP. However, it is defined earlier in section 2 as "a person's primary treating endocrinologist or psychiatrist”.

The word "psychiatrist" insinuates or implies that a person is not mentally well and places an unnecessary stigma around the whole process. I would think that if a person wishes to do so, their GP should be able to carry out the same duty. The GP is the person who knows them. Most people have grown up with the same GP from when they were a child and so the GP is more likely to be able to decide on something like that. Also there are very few medical practitioners with expertise in this field so unless we are going to bring in some form of mandatory training or education for current practitioners, we should allow those who know the person best to make that decision.

Another area I want to discuss is the age criteria. As has been discussed already, in order for a person to apply for a certificate they must be 18 years of age. If they are between the ages of 16 and 18 the young adult's parents or guardians must agree and must secure a court order. I would disagree with having to secure a court order. If a young adult has parents that do not agree with this, the parents may sometimes put barriers in the way, leaving the person in a very difficult position. While I understand it is a difficult area to deal with because we are talking about children, there is a fear that all transgender people choose to medically transition, and that if a child were allowed to medically transition and then changed their mind or decided they had made a decision too young, there would be very little going back. We are not talking about medical transition, or about children having surgery. We are talking about legal recognition on paper, something which the Bill provides under section 14, whereby a person can apply to have the certificate revoked. We are also talking about fear of the unknown. If a young boy of 12 or 13 transitions and wants to go to a girls' school, will the principal and teachers allow it? Will the children and their parents accept it? This is all about education and educating people.

I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like for a young person, and there are very few people listening to this debate who can imagine how confusing, frightening and upsetting it might be, especially when there is very little acknowledgement out there that this happens. We need to take the children's views into account on this issue and we need to learn from children and young people who have gone through this. We are not talking about opening floodgates here. Two years ago we had a debate on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill and a number of people said that if the legislation was passed the floodgates would open and there would be women all over the country claiming they were suicidal in order to have a termination. That did not happen. We are talking about a small group of people. We are not talking about people who are going through a fad, as Deputy Pringle put it, but people who need our help. There are young children who are suicidal, who are self-harming and who have mental health problems because they cannot deal with what they are going through and because the proper supports are not there. There is only so much that organisations like TENI and Transparency can do to help. Like most Deputies here today, I would ask that when this debate moves on to the next Stage, the issue of age be looked at again.

Finally the stipulation that a person must be single in order to apply for the certificate is something that we should leave open. This May, a referendum on same-sex marriage will be put to the people of Ireland and if it is successful, which I hope it is, then same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. It has been suggested that Committee Stage be held off until after the referendum and that is something we should look at.

I welcome this Bill and welcome the fact that there will be a review of the Act in two years. However, just because a review has been promised, it does not mean we cannot still go a little further now with this legislation, and I think we should.

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