Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This group of amendments is all about the undue medicalisation and pathologising of transgender persons, which we were critical of on Second Stage and today. As others have done, I urge the Minister of State to accept the spirit in which these amendments were moved.

I wish to speak on amendment No. 13, tabled by my colleague, Senator Marie Moloney, which I fully support. To delete the words "based on a medical evaluation of the applicant" would tackle one of the most criticised aspects of the requirements of the procedures in section 9. If the Minister of State is minded to accept this amendment, he would also have to similarly amend sections 11 and 14 and delete line 14 on page 11, line 32 on page 11 and a phrase in lines 23 to 24 of page 15. There would be a number of consequent amendments where the phrase "based on a medical evaluation of the applicant" is used in other provisions in respect of sections 9, 11 and 14.

The key point of this amendment is to remove any suggestion that there would be a requirement that somebody would prove any of the points made by Senator Zappone in her amendment No. 6 to section 7. She states that people should not be required to provide evidence or proof of surgical procedures, etc. I think the spectre of that requirement is raised by the use of the phrase "medical evaluation". In my view that is something we should be looking to change.