On first publication, the Bill was highly criticised by human rights group Amnesty International, who said that Ireland’s trans community had been “short-changed”, referring to obvious flaws in the proposed legislation.

During the closing debates yesterday, Senators from across the House were unanimous in their criticism of three main elements of the Bill:

• the need for applicants to be single (‘forced divorce’);

• the absence of protection for, and acknowledgement of, young trans and intersex people;

• and the requirement that a primary treating medical practitioner affirm an applicant’s identity.

Speaking at the conclusion of the debate, Broden Giambrone, Chief Executive of Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) welcomed the amendments, but said that the Bill still has worrying elements.

“This legislation passing through the Seanad is significant and we welcome the introduction of amendments by Government. For instance, the deletion of the phrase ‘medical evaluation’ is practically and symbolically meaningful. However, it by no means represents depathologisation of the legislation. Furthermore, the restrictive definition of medical practitioners still remains. This is still a major shortfall of the legislation and prevents it from being heralded as truly progressive legislation.”

The Government passed an amendment that requires a review of the Bill within two years of enactment, which campaigners welcome.

“This is an important safety mechanism to ensure that this legislation is not forgotten, and to allow for the problems to be resolved,” continued Giambrone. “However, we know what good practice is now, and we should not be kicking this down the line for another Government to have to deal with. We should legislate properly now. We can legislate properly now. We know now what changes need to be made if the Bill is to protect the very people it is designed to protect.”

During the debates, a substantial number of amendments were offered by Senators to address the obvious deficiencies in the Bill. Despite very strong arguments in favour of human rights based changes, the Minister stated he was not in a position to accept the proposed changes.

As a date has not yet been set for this debate, there is still time to lobby for changes to be made to the Bill. Trans rights groups, such as TENI are urging advocates to contact their TDs and tell them why gender recognition matters.

Visit TENI for more information on what you can do to advocate for change.