Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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161. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the advice or recommendations advanced in the formulation of the Gender Recognition Bill 2014; if she is satisfied that the proposed removal of a provision for a medicalised model of recognition is adequate or safe in view of the fact that a long-term study (details supplied) of up to 30 years which followed 324 persons who had sex reassignment surgery found that, beginning about ten years after having the surgery, the transgendered persons began to experience increasing mental difficulties with suicide mortality rates rising to almost 20 times higher than the comparable non-transgender population; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23060/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The approach which is being taken in the Gender Recognition Bill 2014, whereby gender recognition for person aged 18 years or more will be based on a system of self-determination without the need for supporting statements from a medical practitioner, is very much in line with the approach advocated by, amongst others, the Council of Europe, advocacy groups within the transgender community, and Oireachtas Members who have contributed to date on the legislation. It is an approach which also reflects the latest international developments in this policy arena.

The self-determination approach will have the effect of separating the formal legal recognition of the preferred gender of a transgender person from the care pathway which any such person may follow. It does not in any way seek to minimise or diminish the importance of those care pathways or to suggest that continued medical supports may not be required by a person who applies for gender recognition. By the same token, while the overdue introduction of formal legal recognition will undoubtedly be a positive step for the transgender community, it will not, of itself, address all of the issues that this community faces.

The research cited by the Deputy relates to persons who underwent sex reassignment surgery, as opposed to the objective of the Gender Recognition Bill which is to legally recognise a person’s preferred gender. The key conclusion drawn from the research is that consideration be given to enhancing the levels of care provided to transgender people. That conclusion remains valid regardless of the system of legal recognition in place.