Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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117. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when the gender recognition Bill will be published. [18288/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The General Scheme of the Gender Recognition Bill was published on 17 July 2013, following Cabinet approval. The Bill provides for the recognition of the acquired gender of transgender people aged 18 and over and who are not married or in a civil partnership. The legislation will also facilitate persons with intersex conditions.

Once enacted, it will mean that a person who has been issued with a gender recognition certificate will have their acquired gender fully recognised by the State for all purposes – including the right to marry or enter a civil partnership in the acquired gender and the right to a new birth certificate.

Following its publication, the General Scheme of the Bill was referred for pre-legislative scrutiny to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection. Officials from the Department of Social Protection, representative groups and legal and medical experts participated in hearings held by the Joint Oireachtas Committee in October 2013. The Committee’s Report was published in January 2014.

I have given careful consideration to the Committee’s Report and I expect that this matter will be considered at Cabinet shortly. Following Government consideration, the General Scheme of the Bill, with any agreed revisions, will be referred to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for drafting with a view to the legislation being published later this year.

The Report by the Joint Oireachtas Committee will be discussed in Dáil Eireann on Friday 9^thMay 2014.