Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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87. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the timeline and possible composition for any committee to review the Gender Recognition Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30009/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Gender Recognition Act 2015 was commenced on 4 September 2015. Section 7 of the Act provides that the Minister for Social Protection shall commence a review of the operation of the Act not later than 2 years after the date of commencement. The Act further provides that not later than 12 months after the commencement of that review, the Minister shall make a report of the findings of the review to each House of the Oireachtas.

It is intended that the review will commence in September 2017 to allow for a full evaluation of the operation of the Act.

The report to the Houses of the Oireachtas will be made in September 2018.

The precise format of the review has not, as yet, been decided. However since the enactment of the Gender Recognition Act my Department has been working with other relevant Departments, particularly the Departments of Education and Skills and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on the implementation of the legislation. I am aware that both of those Departments have been working with the various stakeholders on issues to do with, for example schools and also the concerns of children. The work which is being done now will greatly assist the review when it begins next year.