Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This legislation demonstrates how far Ireland has come in terms of social progress in recent years. While the Bill is welcome, it must also be stated that Ireland is currently the only country in the European Union which has not already made provision for legal gender recognition. In reality, therefore, we are merely catching up. The delay in introducing gender recognition legislation has left transgender and intersex persons without formal legal status and has significantly impacted upon their ability to access services such. The publication of this Bill marks progress in that regard. The Bill will give formal legal recognition to the preferred gender of transgender persons by means of the issuing of gender recognition certificates by the Department of Social Protection. This will mean that a person's preferred gender will be fully recognised by the State for all purposes, including the right to marry or enter a civil partnership in his or her preferred gender and the right to a new birth certificate. The term "preferred gender" is, in line with a recommendation made by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection and Education during the pre-legislative scrutiny process, contained in the Bill. This will facilitate applications for gender recognition from people with intersex conditions.

The Bill is a progressive measure and I would like it to be enacted as soon as possible in order that members of the transgender community will be able to avail of the opportunity to have their preferred gender formally recognised. Once it becomes law, a person to whom a gender recognition certificate is issued will be officially legally recognised by the State as being of the preferred gender from that day forward. He or she will be recognised in the preferred gender for all purposes, including with regard to his or her dealings with the State, public bodies and civil and commercial society. He or she will be entitled to marry a person of the opposite gender or enter a civil partnership with a person of the same gender. He or she will also be entitled, where relevant, to a new birth certificate that shows the preferred gender and new names, if names are also changed.

The application process for gender recognition will be administered by the Department of Social Protection. Applicants will either have to have their birth registered in Ireland or be ordinarily resident here. This process will consist of a statutory declaration by the applicant that he or she intends to live permanently in the new gender and a validation by the primary treating physician that the person has transitioned or is transitioning to the preferred gender. Details of care, including medical history or confirmation of a diagnosis, will not be required, nor will the person be obliged to confirm he or she has been living in his or her preferred gender for a specific period prior to his or her application. The Bill requires that, pending the outcome of the referendum on same-sex marriage due to take place in May, an applicant for gender recognition should be single.

The Oireachtas joint committee recommended that the minimum age for gender recognition be reduced from 18 to 16 years. The Bill provides for applications from 16 and 17 year olds but with significant safeguards, which seek to balance the rights of such applicants with the need to protect their interests at a vulnerable age, attached. In particular, in such cases it will be necessary to secure a court order exempting the applicant from the standard requirement of a minimum age for gender recognition of 18 years.

The Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP, has been keen to see the definition of "primary treating medical practitioner" contained in the legislation extended to include general practitioners. I support its efforts in this regard for a number of reasons. General practitioners are more than capable and fully qualified to fulfil the certification duties under the legislation and are also more thank likely to be familiar with the circumstances of applicants. The latter means that they will be well placed to provide verification of an individual's medical transition. General practitioners would be also the first point of contact for most transgender people seeking health care and would, I understand, monitor the medical transition after transgender people have engaged with specialist services. Having their local general practitioners involved would be of great benefit to transgender people.

I met representatives from Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI, earlier in the week. One of them was a person with whom I had worked some years ago, while another served as a public representative in the 1980s. I wish them every success in having their gender recognised under the terms of the Bill. Transgender people have been and remain marginalised in society. It is well past time that this changed. There is more work to be done in the coming years. I strongly commend this legislation to the House.

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