Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Senator Moloney on her amendment which I will bring forward on Report Stage. Senator Bacik highlighted the fact that there will also be alternative reviews. That will be done.

At this stage I am not proposing to accept the amendments other than to say that providing a birth certificate is a significant and serious step by the State. The purpose of this legislation is to recognise and validate people in their gender. I accept that for most people transing to their preferred gender, there is absolutely no doubt about their choice to live the rest of their lives in their preferred gender and will make a declaration to that effect to the State as part of their application.

There has been absolutely no consultation or involvement with GPs. There would have to be extensive consultation with GPs if we were to go down that road as some Senators said earlier. My concern is that the Bill is robust and not susceptible to attack. That is the reason we have looked carefully at the mechanism to protect minors as envisaged in Articles 42.5 and 40.3 of the Constitution. The flip side of some of the arguments that are made is to try to defend vulnerable minors, for which various statistics have been given. I noted going back over the debate that the percentage given by Dr. O'Shea in the committee was 20%. We should be conscious that there is a group of minors who need to be protected. That is the reason I refer Members to Articles 42.5 and 40.3 of the Constitution. I accept that everything put forward here has been done in good faith to protect the vulnerable. It is important to note again that a review is provided for and will take place within two years. Therefore, there will be an opportunity to review the legislation quite quickly and see how it is working in practice. As this is legislation that is being introduced here or the first time the review period is too long. The review mechanism being looked at is a two-year review. That will provide a speedy opportunity to review the practice of the Bill. It will be for the next Seanad and the next Dáil to review it and the mechanism will be set out in legislation.