Annual Report under Section 6 of the Gender Recognition Act 2015

The first Annual Report of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 was published by the Department of Social Protection today. The report outlines the performance of functions under the Act and covers the period from the commencement of the Act on 4 September 2015 to 30 June 2016.

The legislation enables a person who applies for a gender recognition certificate to be formally recognised in their preferred gender for all purposes by the State. Furthermore, where the 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.

The main effects of the legislation for those 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

Statistics:

• a total of 149 Gender Recognition Certificates were issued, of these, four were issued to applicants aged 16 and 17 years on foot of a court order in accordance with the legislation
• of the 149 applicants referred to above, 100 were subsequently registered on the Register of Gender Recognition maintained by the General Register Office
• 12 passports were issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to people who have received gender recognition certificates, three of whom were under age 18 years

There has been very positive feedback from clients in respect of the timely and professional manner in which applications have been dealt with since the commencement of the Act.

ENDS