Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 9 would delete the reference in the Bill to 18 years, the age from which someone will be treated as an adult, and replace it with "16 years". As we have discussed on Second and Committee Stages, 16 years is the age of medical consent and the age at which young people can make much more significant decisions affecting them - for example, to undergo an elective medical procedure - than getting a gender recognition certificate. It is appropriate that a transgender person be able to make a decision in his or her own right from the age of 16. Such people should not require parental consent at that stage and should be treated as adults, particularly given the precedent of medical consent.

Amendment No. 25 is designed to put in place a procedure for those aged under 16 years. It is one of the Bill's major failings that it makes no provision for the recognition of young transgender persons under the age of 16 years. If passed, the amendment would ensure that people under 16 years of age would only be able to get gender recognition certificates if their parents consented and they satisfied a court that it was in their best interests. These are significant hurdles and the safeguards are strong enough.We are talking about recognition and access to a gender recognition certificate. Senator van Turnhout, I and others raised the matter of the difficulties young people face in education. I pushed our amendment on this area last week in amending the Education Act to ensure that a child would have a legal right to be accepted and accommodated by a school in their preferred gender. The Minister of State said he was not prepared to accept that as he believes that it is a separate matter for the Department of Education and Skills. That is unfortunate because, as he said, the lived experience of transgender people is that they come across many obstacles in the basic aspects of their lives that other young people can take for granted. I refer to gaining access to an appropriate school, wearing uniforms, using the toilets, roll call and being called by the appropriate name by teachers. We put forward a more specific amendment to ensure that young people would be treated appropriately by the education system. We were defeated in that vote last week and therefore the amendment is not included in the Bill. However, at least this process would ensure that if a young person can get a gender recognition certificate under the age of 16, they can then present that to the school and that would give them the opportunity to be treated appropriately and to have a right to be recognised and supported by the school in their preferred gender.

We had a similar debate on earlier amendments on this issue in regard to those aged under 16. The Minister of State rejected a more moderate and compromised amendment from Senator van Turnhout on that issue. Therefore, unfortunately, I do not have much faith that the Minister of State will accept amendments Nos. 9 and 25. I want to push such amendments yet again because we must keep trying to improve this legislation. It affects young people most profoundly not to have proper recognition and support for who they really are. It is a huge failing in the Bill that it has not been addressed and it is for that reason that I will push these amendments. I will also talk to our Members in the Dáil to ensure that they do the same there. We cannot give up on this issue. To bring through a Bill that does nothing for such a vulnerable group of young people is such a massive disappointment. It will leave people without the protection and support that they deserve.