Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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163. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will ensure that the revised general scheme of the Gender Recognition Bill 2014 is amended, to remove the fact that the proposed criteria for 16 and 17 year olds to access the legislation requires parental consent letters from two physicians and a court order and that trans persons must be single in order to have their gender legally recognised. [47271/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Revised General Scheme of the Gender Recognition Bill, published in June of this year, was the culmination of an extensive consultation process – including consideration by the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection of the earlier version of the General Scheme of the Bill, published in 2013.

The provisions contained in the Revised General Scheme in relation to 16/17 year olds seek to strike the appropriate balance between enabling such persons to acquire a gender recognition certificate and safeguarding and protecting their interests at a vulnerable age.

There are particular constitutional difficulties which arise in relation to married people seeking a gender recognition certificate. The Revised General Scheme of the Bill retains the requirement that an applicant for gender recognition be single, pending the outcome of the referendum on same-sex marriage.

The arrangements to be provided for in the Bill, which will be published shortly, have at their core a genuine commitment on the part of the Government to enabling transgender persons to be recognised for all purposes in their preferred gender.