TENI and BeLonG To have expressed ‘disappointment’ towards proposed amendments to the Gender Recognition Act as it fails to fully implement recommendations relating to children under the age of 16 and non-binary people.

In 2015, previous Tánaiste Joan Burton signed the Commencement Order for the Gender Recognition Act, which ensured transgender people would be legally recognised as their gender. Though the legislation was a groundbreaking moment in Ireland, issues emerged relating to children under the age of 16 changing gender and non-binary people. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty established a Review Group to assess the function of the Act and subsequently develop amendments. 92 written submissions were received as part of a public consultation phase launched on January 8 2018. Findings were published in the Report on the Review of the Gender Recognition Act.

In response to the Review Group’s recommendations, the Irish Government has proposed a set of changes, which involves simplifying the path to legal gender recognition for children aged 16/17 but rejected plans to implement changes relating to children under 16. Read more via GCN