Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that a very neglected, abused and harassed group of people are being dealt with in some measure, but I condemn completely the manner in which the Bill is being guillotined. It is outrageous that the debate will finish at 2.30 p.m. Many amendments tabled by me, the Anti-Austerity Alliance and others, which were a result of meetings with TENI and other advocates on this issue, will not be heard, which is really unfortunate. The advances in the Bill are welcome and great credit is due to the social movement that took place in this country around the marriage equality referendum. I have no doubt that the Government would not have agreed to the changes sought if the "Yes" vote had not been so decisive.

The issue of those aged under 18 is important, and I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the decision not to accept the amendments. The idea that because one is aged under 18 one will be treated differently from adults is unacceptable. After everything that has happened in this country regarding the rights of children and women in the past, surely the Government should have taken a much more enlightened approach. Children have a right to express their opinions, their identities and who they are. Let us be clear. Children know from a very early age if they are gay, bisexual or transgender. We have all been educated in recent times about that, and many children know and express that to their parents. Whether their parents accept that is another issue, but it is to be hoped many of them will.

Amnesty International has made the case that young children and those aged under 18 need to be listened to. The Ombudsman for Children has also asked the Government to take account of those aged under 18. The Minister of State could have accepted the amendments tabled to allow people to not have to go through medical examinations or certifications. A person aged 16, for example, is legally allowed to give his or her opinion on what should happen to him or her when he or she is in hospital. The Minister of State could easily have lowered the age in the Bill to 16 years.

Children should be able, with the support of their parents, to apply for a certificate without having to go to a doctor. There are real problems with regard to medical practitioners. TENI has said there is a lack of trained medical professionals and doctors who are willing and able to deal with this issue. The waiting lists are very long and it is likely that it would be two to three years before somebody would be able to have his or her identity asserted.

I wish to make some general points about those aged under 18, because I may not get to make them again. I refer to the issue of schools. I ask the Minister of State to follow the Bill with a discussion about what schools will be asked to do to cater for transgender young people. As we know, 90% of primary schools and 53% of secondary schools are denominational. Some excellent documentaries have been aired on RTE radio on which young transgender people were interviewed, and a major issue for them was schools. People are forced to wear very gendered uniforms which they do not want to wear. They are forced to use certain toilets, which is inhumane and undignified. Schools have refused to recognise that some young people want to be a different gender, even when they have the support of their parents and families.

School textbooks and policies on bullying are also issues, and need to reflect the fact that there are more than two genders in society and that a spectrum of genders exists. I have spoken to young people involved in the Spectrum Group, which deals with the major problem of homophobic and trans-phobic bullying in schools. There has to be a recognition that society has changed and people want a tolerant, diverse, pluralist and open society. The Amnesty International findings on abortion, which were published yesterday, bear this out. People want a separation of church and state in this country. That is the only way young transgender people in schools will be able to fully express who they are without being pigeonholed and told not to feel a certain way.

During the marriage equality referendum, a bishop said that if the vote was passed schools would not be expected to reflect same-sex couples in school textbooks, but they are. What about transgender people? The Bill is very important and a good step forward, but it must be followed by a realisation by this and future Governments that we need to separate church and state and allow much more diversity of options, particularly for young people who do not accept the shackles and straitjackets that our generation and others were put into.

See this speech in context