Annual Report under Section 6 of the Gender Recognition Act is published

The Department of Social Protection has published the 2016 Annual Report of the Gender Recognition Act 2015. This is the second report to be published under the Act.

The Gender Recognition Act 2015 enables a person who applies for a gender recognition certificate to be formally recognised in their preferred gender for all purposes by the State. Where a person’s birth is registered in Ireland, the holder of a gender recognition certificate can obtain a new birth certificate from the Register of Gender Recognition, maintained by the General Register Office, which shows the preferred gender and names.

In 2016, 77 people who had been issued with a Gender Recognition Certificate were subsequently registered on the Register of Gender Recognition. In addition, 13 passports were issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to people who have received Gender Recognition Certificates.

Section 7 of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 provides for a review of the Act to commence within 2 years of enactment of the legislation. The review is due to commence in September and preparatory work is currently underway. It will examine a range of issues, including the position of people who are non-binary and that of 16 and 17 year olds and younger children. Consultation with stakeholders will be a key part of the process. The findings and conclusions of the review must be presented to the Oireachtas by September 2018.

ENDS

Further information

The main effects of the legislation for people wishing to have their gender recognised include:

• an applicant will be legally recognised by the State as being of the preferred gender from the date of the decision to issue the gender recognition certificate. Under section 18 of the Act this means that if the preferred gender is the male gender the person’s sex becomes that of a man, and if it is the female gender the person’s sex becomes that of a woman
• the person whose preferred gender is recognised can obtain a new birth certificate from the Register of Gender Recognition in the General Register Office, provided their birth was originally registered in Ireland. The new certificate shows the preferred gender and new names (if names are also changed)
• section 38 of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 amends the Passports Act 2008 so that a holder of a gender recognition certificate may apply to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and request a passport to be issued in the name and gender specified on the gender recognition certificate