A report commissioned by the Minister for Social Protection, Regina Doherty, advises that children of all ages should have access to legal gender recognition subject to parental consent. It continues that legal recognition should be granted to people who identify as neither exclusively male or female.

Under the new proposals, an application for legal gender recognition from someone aged under 18 would be granted subject to parental consent. This is currently only available to 16 and 17 year olds. An appropriate legal process to address cases where consent from one or both parents or guardians cannot be obtained will also be available.

Sara R Phillips, Chair of TENI (Trans Equality Network Ireland), who was also a member of the review group stated upon its release, “This review encapsulates full equality for all members of the trans community. I would hope and urge the Minister to implement in full the recommendations in this report.”

If implemented, the recommendations of the Gender Recognition Review Group would make Ireland's gender recognition laws the best in the world. We would not be at this point without the bravery of this woman, Dr. Lydia Foy. She is a hero and an inspiration. pic.twitter.com/Pt2fxRx7OL

— TENI (@TENI_Tweets) July 19, 2018

TENI went on to tweet: “If implemented, the recommendations of the Gender Recognition Review Group would make Ireland’s gender recognition laws the best in the world” before going on to praise trans rights pioneer, Dr Lydia Foy.

Monnine Griffith, chair of the review and executive director of Belong to Youth Services said that implementing the report’s recommendations would “change the lives of trans, non-binary and intersex young people across Ireland”.

Other recommendations contained within the report include provisions to allow legal change of name as part of the gender recognition process without the need for a deed poll; measures to allow Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland and living outside the State to apply for a gender recognition certificate; reduction in costs for obtaining replacement documents; measures to streamline the application process across government departments and measures to ensure no detectable differences on birth certificates issued on foot of obtaining a gender recognition certificate.