Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The second issue Senator Mullen raised was the definition of gender. Again, I have raised it in this House on a number of occasions. There is an expansive, extensive and broad definition of gender in section 3. It is there for a very good reason - because the very people who fall outside the traditional norms of gender in this society are the same people who are repeatedly targeted for harassment and criminal activity due to them being non-gender normative. That is the reason the definition is so wide. That is one point, but let us park it for a moment.

Senator Mullen then takes that and decides this is somehow going to leach into every other active Bill that has been passed by these Houses, without any basis for making such a statement. The definition of gender in section 3 can only apply when the Bill becomes law. It can never apply to any other piece of legislation because it is specific to this legislative measure. That does not stop Senator Mullen suggesting to us that there is somehow an attempt by the Government to create a new definition of gender.