Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Varadkar to the House. I also extend a very warm welcome to the people in the Gallery. I met many of them yesterday - as did some other Members of the Oireachtas - when they shared their personal stories with us. It was an honour to listen to these people tell their stories and place in context their journeys, vulnerabilities, fears and anxieties but also their hopes. I walked away from that meeting yesterday full of hope for the people who spoke to us because they began to believe and to see that the Oireachtas was seriously committed to supporting them in their particular cause, and, hopefully, the debate today will prove that point.

I particularly thank Senators Fintan Warfield, David Norris and Grace O'Sullivan who took up the ball, put this legislation together, and cosigned and supported it. I know Senator Fintan Warfield drove it from the front and has worked on this for a long time. I acknowledge his enormous contribution to this legislation.

I said in my opening remarks yesterday that it was very clear for me to make up my mind on this legislation because it hinged on two matters. It was about allowing people to be their authentic self. Authenticity is very simple but a very profound and important word. It is about ensuring that people can be authentic and that they can feel free to develop in their own unique way as every person is unique in his or her own way. That is important. Also, it was an issue of equality because this is all about equality at the end of the day.

Yesterday, I was asked three questions, namely, first, would I support amending the Gender Recognition Act to meaningfully include young people under the age of 18? Second, would I seek to enact hate crime legislation to protect Ireland's young and, many times, vulnerable citizens? Third, would I support the allocation of additional funds to the HSE to ensure that appropriate accessible health care and related service is available for trans people? My answer to all three was "Yes".

It is important that we acknowledge in the Houses of the Oireachtas, Dr. Lydia Foy, based in Athy, County Kildare-----