Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity being provided for debate with this Bill being introduced to this House. However, it must be said that we in Sinn Féin feel it is seriously lacking in the protection of young people's rights. Ireland is currently the only state in the EU with no provision for legal gender recognition.

My main issue with the Bill, as children's affairs spokesperson for my party, is the process of recognition for young people aged 16 and 17, and the exclusion of under 16s from the Bill. The advice from the Ombudsman for Children on the issue is that a failure to provide in law for transgender young people to have their preferred gender recognised renders it more difficult to advance awareness of the serious challenges facing them in schools and in other settings. This is unfair to these young people and puts them at an unnecessary disadvantage in life progression. Where 16 and 17 year olds wish to obtain legal recognition of their preferred gender, the barriers they face are onerous. The Bill introduces a mechanism whereby young people aged 16 and 17 can obtain a gender recognition certificate. It is widely felt by transgender organisations that the process as outlined to obtain the certificate is too arduous and unfair on young people.

The gender recognition Bill requires a number of important amendments to fulfil the requirements of international human rights law and tackle the serious issue of discrimination against transgender people. It falls seriously short of providing adequate protection to trans young people, especially within the education system, and makes no attempt to protect and vindicate their right to freedom of expression. As stated by the transgender advocacy group BeLonG To, on a very practical level this impacts on uniform choice, access to appropriate toilets, the name which appears on the school roll and the right to join sports teams targeted at those of a certain gender. It also has been noted that there is serious failure in the Bill to provide security for trans young people transitioning within education and that this will inevitably have a negative impact on the affected young people's mental health. This causes me huge concern. This State has a duty of care to all young people and a responsibility to provide for their protection and well-being. There is also great concern that the Bill will lead to different policies and procedures in schools across the State. This will only make it more complicated and difficult for trans young people to transition to their preferred gender and progress through their educational and personal development.

Another aspect that we in Sinn Féin find seriously concerning and unacceptable is the criterion that one must be single in order to apply for recognition. We are completely against any requirement that a person must be single in order to have their gender recognised, and further that they would be required to seek a divorce in order to have paperwork that accurately reflects their gender. The requirement that a person must divorce their spouse first is outlandish, outdated and quite possibly unconstitutional.

We are also of the view that all reasonable steps should be taken to ensure the dignity and privacy of applicants for legal gender recognition be preserved and that confidentiality is preserved in all cases. For this reason we tabled an amendment in the Seanad, which we will table again in this House. As Colm O'Gorman from Amnesty International has commented, the Bill must "ensure that transgender people can obtain legal recognition of their gender through a quick, accessible and transparent procedure in accordance with their own sense of their gender identity". It is the Government's responsibility to reach out and to listen to the transgender community so that their concerns and views are heard and incorporated into its development. The gender recognition Bill, if it is to achieve what it intends to, must be inclusive, and must be relevant to the needs of the people it seeks to address.

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