Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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269. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to set down the number of applications and the number of approved applications needed to obtain a gender recognition certificate under the Gender Recognition Act 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23001/17]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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270. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if it is legally possible for children aged between six and eight years of age to obtain a gender recognition certificate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23002/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 269 and 270 together.

The Gender Recognition Act 2015 (the “Act”) was commenced on 5th September 2015.

The Act provides for the preferred gender of a person to be fully recognised by the State for all purposes. An applicant who has attained the age of 18 years may apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate by way of self-determination and, where their birth is registered in the State, they may subsequently apply for a birth certificate in their preferred name and/or gender.

Section 12 of the Act provides that a person aged 16 and not yet 18 years old may apply to the court, through a parent or next friend for an exemption from the standard requirement of a minimum age for gender recognition of 18 years. An application to the Court must be accompanied by a certificate from the applicant’s treating endocrinologist or psychiatrist and also a certificate from an endocrinologist or psychiatrist who has no connection with the child. This provision was included in order to balance the rights of children with the need to protect their interests at a vulnerable age.

There is no provision in the Act for persons under the age of 16 years to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate. Given the child welfare issues involved here I must be guided by my colleague the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Following enactment, I wrote to Minister Zappone requesting that her Department undertake research in the area of gender recognition for children to inform policy in the future. I understand that the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is currently conducting a consultation process with the relevant NGOs and young children on this issue. The findings of these consultations are awaited.

Section 7 provides for a review of the operation of the Act. The review is due to begin in September 2017 and will include in its terms of reference the issue of gender recognition for children. A report the findings and conclusions will be published within a year of the commencement of the review.

Since commencement of the Act there have been 231 applications for a Gender Recognition Certificate. Of these, 230 of were granted, including all nine applications in respect of 16 or 17 year olds.