Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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267. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the introduction of a legal pathway for children under 16 years of age to obtain a gender recognition certificate; the number of applications for the certificate since the introduction of the provision; the number of applications refused; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14298/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The current legislation does not provide for a person under 16 years to apply for a gender recognition certificate (GRC). The overall number of applications for a GRC from the introduction of the provision up to 28 February 2019 is 463, of which 1 application was refused.

A review of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 was conducted last year, with a report published in July 2018. The report made 10 core recommendations, one of which was to provide for gender recognition for children on the following basis:

A system of gender recognition should be introduced for children of any age, subject to the following key principles:

- Parental consent required (with an appropriate legal process to address cases where there is not consent from both parents or it is not possible or safe to obtain same),

- Process would be administrative,

- Straightforward revocation process,

- Third party support for the child and family involved.

The current position is that officials from my Department are considering the recommendations of the report of the Review Group, and how they can best be progressed, in conjunction with other relevant Departments and the office of the Attorney General.

When these deliberations are complete I will lay my own report on the review before the Houses of the Oireachtas, as provided for in section 7 of the Act.