The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney TD, and Minister of State for the Diaspora, Ciarán Cannon TD, have today jointly announced the launch of a register of gender recognition of foreign births. The introduction of this register allowsIrish citizens who have obtained citizenship through Foreign Births Registration to apply for their birth to be recorded in the register of gender recognition of foreign births under their preferred gender and names.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney TD welcomed the move, stating that:
“From today, any transgender Irish citizen who has had their birth recorded in the foreign birth register, can apply to be entered in the register of gender recognition of foreign births under their preferred gender and names. For the first time, transgender citizens abroad will be afforded the same rights as all other Irish citizens to have their preferred gender recognised.”
The Gender Recognition Act 2015 enables a person who applies for a gender recognition certificate from the Department of Social Protection to be formally recognised in their preferred gender for all purposes by the State. The 2015 Act also amended the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 to require the introduction of the Gender Recognition of Foreign Births Regulations 2017, which were enacted on 1 December 2017 and have facilitated the launch of the new Register today, which will be held by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Minister of State for the Diaspora, Ciarán Cannon TD said:
“Ireland was the first country in the world to recognise marriage equality by popular vote and we have a particularly progressive piece of legislation regarding transgender rights. Today’s announcement is a further step in the advancement of rights for our citizens overseas, who will now be able to self-identify in their preferred gender in the register of gender recognition of foreign births.”
Further information on how to apply for entry onto the Register for the Gender Recognition of Foreign Births can be found here.
General information on the Registration of Foreign Births is located here.