On Monday, October 26, a session was held by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sports to discuss trans inclusion in sport. The LGBTQ+ organisations involved included Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), Sporting Pride, Sport Against Racism Ireland and Her Sport.
In their opening remarks, Executive Director of TENI, Daire Dempsey, shared “Extensive research (…), and our direct work with community members, tells us that trans people experience poorer mental and physical health, increased isolation, and increased marginalisation than cisgender people, or people who are not trans. This makes sport particularly important.”
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Dempsey also mentioned TENI’s contributions to creating more inclusive sporting spaces for trans people, such as their 2025 Sports Inclusion Policy Guide and Sports for All project. The TENI website also outlines useful information on the current restrictions for trans people in various areas of competitive sport in Ireland.
Over the past few years, many sporting bodies across the world have issued policies and guidance which restrict trans people’s access to sport, under the guise of making competition more ‘fair and equal’. For instance, in 2024, Sport Ireland published guidance stating, “Biomedical science tells us that there are significant differences in the determinants of sporting performance between the sexes (…) At this time, the evidence points to retention of some of these differences in transgender women, even after transition therapy.” This reasoning is often used to justify the exclusion of trans women in sport not only in competitive fields but in educational and club settings as well.
On the growing anti-trans sentiment in sport, Dempsey said, “There has been a marked increase in negative media and political discourse about trans people participating in sport in the past five years. As a result of this, many sports bodies, or indeed States around the world, have introduced exclusionary policies to restrict or ban trans people from sport.”
Furthermore, during the session Senator Evanne Ní Chuilinn added, “It’s actually a very good time for you to be in because of the next National Sports Policy. We have about a year to get it down and written.”
In response, Dempsey explained the improvements that need to be made to the National Sports Policy, saying, “It’s the mismatch right now between the policy decisions, the research that is supposedly underpinning them and the impact that it is having on trans people (…) The biggest ask for us is to be in the room.”
On the lack of formal engagement between the sports sector and TENI, a member of the Oireachtas committee responded, “That’s a bit of a shock to all of us here (…) Certainly, in relation to our report we’ll do that.”
You can read Daire Dempsey’s full opening address and TENI’s briefing document on the organisation’s website.
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