Calls have been made for Ireland to follow the UK after a historic Supreme Court ruling which recognises that the legal definition of a woman is to be based on biological sex.
UK Supreme Court judge Lord Hodge announced that the Equality Act’s definition of a woman relates to “a biological woman and biological sex,” not acquired gender, as the court unanimously allowed an appeal by the gender critical campaign group, For Women Scotland.
Now campaigners and political figures at home are calling on the government to review our Gender Recognition Act which allows for any biological male to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate at government offices, which renders him legally a woman in this jurisdiction and does not require that the man have undergone any gender reassignment treatments.
Gript contacted the Department of Justice to ask if there are plans to review the terms of the Gender Recognition Act in Ireland, however we were referred to the Dept. of Social Protection who at the time of publication have not responded to our queries.
Independent Ireland Cllr. Linda de Courcy said she was “delighted to see the ruling of the UK Supreme Court returning truth and common sense to our nearest neighbours on Tuesday. The judges unanimously ruled that the term woman means a “biological woman” and sex means “biological sex”.”
Independent Ireland Chairman and TD for Cork North-Central Ken O’Flynn described the UK Supreme Court ruling as a “victory for common sense, a victory for women everywhere and a victory for self-evident truths that have been ruthlessly smothered by the relentless onslaught of radical gender ideology.”
He said that the Gender Recognition Act “is a clear example of what legislative violence to the understanding of what constitutes a woman looks like, and it has to be repealed if we want our laws to reflect reality.”
“I would go further and say that the GRA in its current format actively facilitates the increased likelihood of physical and psychological violence against women because of the manner in which our prisons, our women’s refuges and singles sex spaces are violated by having to accommodate themselves to the wishes of those who self-ID as women, even though they remain fully biologically male.”
“Ireland must return to those core biological and legal realities that were accepted by the majority until the revolution in gender theory swept through our political institutions with the blessing of catastrophically well-meaning but dangerously deluded politicians who uncritically accepted NGO talking points while ignoring or being indifferent to the implications of the 2015 Gender Recognition Act for biological women and girls.”he said.
Supporters of the Gender Recognition Act, The Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI, said it is dismayed by the UK Supreme Court ruling, saying it was a “step back” for human rights.
“Any ruling which excludes and limits personal freedoms, access and participation in society, and recognition in the eyes of the law impacts us all.” it said in a statement.
“We know that trans women face systemic exclusion, marginalisation and violence, and are targeted and demonised by political actors, media and anti-trans activists.
“This has culminated in efforts to erase trans women from many sectors of society, which this ruling appears to support.”
Aontú leader, Peadar Tóibín previously highlighted how the GRA allows violent male criminals to be housed in female prisons.
Proposing an amendment to the GRA before the Dáil in 2023, he said “The consequence of the Gender Recognition Act is that it allows male-born criminals to be placed in women’s prisons. This has led to the incredible situation that people jailed for horrific sexual offences have been located in women’s prisons.”
Pointing to the case of Barbie Kardashian, he said the biological male who was housed in the female unit of Limerick Prison had “threatened to kill, rape and torture his mother.”
Tóibín said he believed this was “a horrendous dereliction of duty by the Government in terms of the protection of women.”
CEO of The Countess, Laoise de Brún, said, “The GRA was brought in to protect the 1% but catastrophically eroded the rights of the 51%. The Irish government must now reform the GRA here.”
Calling on Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, to take action, The Countess said, “Who can argue with the fairness and logic of the UK Supreme Court ruling? This is a return to common sense and reflects biological reality.”
A statement made by the group, which campaigns for the rights of women and children, said, “For far too long the conflict between the Gender Recognition Act, which seemingly allows one to change one’s sex, and the exceptions in Equality law under the gender grounds, which provide protections based on biological sex have caused chaos in law, in science, and in daily life.” the group said in a statement.
“Sex is binary and immutable. It is not possible to change sex and finally we have legal clarity on this issue, at least in our
neighbouring jurisdiction. As we have seen, where UK test cases lead the world follows, after all it was Keira Bell’s judicial review of The UK Tavistock Clinic that led to the banning of puberty blockers in the UK and elsewhere.”
“It is high time that the Irish Government reformed the GRA to exclude all single-sex spaces – including prisons as per the
Gender Recognition (Amendment) (Prisons) Bill 2023, which was brought before the Dáil last year – and offered statutory guidance to sport national governing bodies and clubs that they may lawfully exclude males
from female sport.”
The statement continued, “Across Ireland teenage girls are being forced to change in front of teenage boys at school and women and girls are losing their female-only changing rooms and toilets due to a lack of clarity on these issues.”