Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 May 2024
185. Deputy Leo Varadkar asked the Minister for Social Protection if she plans to make provision for people who are medically determined to be intersex due to their chromosomes or characteristics to be recognised in law. [19666/24]
View answerThe Gender Recognition Act 2015 was commenced in September 2015. The legislation enables a person to apply to my Department for a gender recognition certificate. When a gender recognition certificate is granted to a person, the person is formally recognised in their preferred gender for all purposes by the State. For the purposes of the Act, a person who applies for a gender recognition certificate must be either male or female.
Intersex is an umbrella term for persons that have differences of sex characteristics including such features as chromosomes, genitalia, gonads etc. There should be no need for an intersex person to apply for legal gender recognition from their registered sex to either male or female. This can be addressed, at any age, directly through the civil registration system, with supporting medical evidence.
For such persons, a correction of the facts, based on submission of medical evidence, can be made from male to female or from female to male, as well as from indeterminate to either male or female. This is provided for in legislation under section 63 of the Civil Registration Act 2004.
