Leo Varadkar’s celebration of Ireland’s Gender Recognition Act (GRA) in The Sunday Times is not the statesmanlike reflection he clearly fancied it to be, but a showcase in bland denial. With the self-satisfaction of a man who confuses moral vanity with compassion, he declares that the law “is not perfect, but it is right.” In Varadkar’s world, being “right” apparently means being applauded by the right people.
The Act allows any adult to change their legal sex with a simple declaration. No medical diagnosis. No psychological assessment. No thought for the law of unintended consequences. Just say the words, and the GRA obliges.
It was introduced quietly, with purposeful stealth, after trans-rights lobbyists devised a deliberate strategy to reshape laws while sidestepping democratic scrutiny.
Proposals were published before the government had even drafted legislation, the campaign was tied to the popular momentum of marriage equality, and media coverage was kept deliberately muted. The plan was simple; move quietly, cloak the agenda in the language of progress, and rely on emotion rather than evidence.
Varadkar now insists that Ireland has avoided the pitfalls seen elsewhere. He thinks it’s working because only 1,500 people have applied for certificates – as if a ship were watertight simply because only one deck is flooding. Surely a former Taoiseach doesn’t need to be told that the issue isn’t numbers but principles?
The moment a society decides that biological truth is optional, it has already betrayed its own integrity and the Gender Recognition Act obliges the State – and everyone in it – to participate in a legal fiction.
It demands that we pretend a man can literally become a woman, or vice versa, not just in appearance but in law. This creates a public deception, a falsehood, that everyone must publicly affirm even though many privately know it isn’t true. But the law doesn’t merely give official sanction to people’s identities as though they were definitive; it compels society to lie.
Civil servants must falsify birth records. Citizens are mandated to commit perjury in court, as seen in the Barbie Kardashian case as seen in the Barbie Kardashian case, where “she/her” pronouns were used for a dangerous and violent male offender. Official documents must obscure reality, and institutions are forced to act as though biology were a matter of opinion.
Autogynephilia – a paraphilia that refers to a male’s propensity to become sexually aroused at the idea of oneself as a woman is recognised as a potential form of Transvestic Disorder in the DSM-5. Yet Varadkar appears entirely unaware of its existence – or of the implications it carries for women’s boundaries and single-sex spaces.
This poorly drafted and deeply flawed legislation will inevitably have to be amended one day, if only for the sake of clarity and fairness.
The Act treats the words “sex” and “gender” as interchangeable, but they are not. Sex is male or female; gender is masculine or feminine. They are similar but distinct.
Sex is an observable biological reality, while gender is a social or psychological expression. It is right and proper to enshrine “sex” in law because law depends on clarity. But “gender” cannot form the basis of sound legislation. It is too vague, too subjective, and too easily bent to ideology, with far too many meanings now attached to this increasingly contested term. When law replaces the concrete with the conceptual, this legislated deception is an act of social engineering – dictating not only how we live, but also how we speak.
When citizens see their governments rewriting basic facts about who can compete in women’s sport, who can be imprisoned in women’s prisons, and who can access female-only services such as rape crisis centres, they begin to sense that truth itself has been politicised. Under the banner of inclusion and compassion, this state-sponsored distortion of language is a form of compelled kindness that punishes honesty.
Varadkar breezily suggests that all-gender bathrooms and changing rooms will soon be “the norm.” Meanwhile, women – that half of the population the law was supposed to protect – are suddenly expected to justify why we want privacy in bathrooms, fairness in sport, or safety in spaces reserved for us.
Across the world, organisations such as Fair Play for Women, Save Women’s Sport, SheWon, and HeCheated have shown how self-identification policies rob sportswomen of medals and teenage girls of scholarships. The GRA erodes fairness in competition, distorts data collection, and undermines the very category of “woman” that women’s sport was created to protect.
Even our own Sonia O’Sullivan warned about this three years ago in The Irish Times, arguing that transgender athletes cannot be allowed to compete in women’s sport. Yet Varadkar waves it away with the easy confidence of a man who has never had to compete against someone twice his size, and never will.
Varadkar’s position reflects the wider attitude of Ireland’s political elite, who, instead of standing up for compassionate, cautious, evidence-based care, continue to genuflect before activist orthodoxy.
The latest example is Mary Butler, Minister of State for Mental Health, who recently told RTÉ that she is “working behind the scenes to deliver healthcare support for young trans people.” It is an extraordinary admission from a government minister, all the more so given that she has already been accused of directing vulnerable young people towards unregulated online providers for cross-sex hormones when Irish doctors, acting on medical evidence and professional judgement, have deemed such prescriptions unsafe and inappropriate. Not only do Butler’s remarks contravene medical advice, they also appear to breach the Code of Conduct, which demands transparency – not backroom deals with lobbyists.
The Cass Review has already shown that the “affirmative model” lacks an evidence base and risks serious harm to children. While Finland, Sweden, the UK and other countries across Europe reverse course, official Ireland marches on, eyes closed, muttering that old national prayer: “Sure, it’ll be grand.”
It won’t though.
At Genspect, we support hundreds of detransitioners, typically autistic and gay, bisexual, or lesbian – who discovered too late that self-identification doesn’t heal distress; it deepens it. The false promise of self-identification does not lead to a better life but to one marked by irreversible medical consequences such as impaired sexual function, infertility, and profound regret.
The Gender Recognition Act promotes a well-intentioned delusion, built on the fantasy that words can change biology. But Ireland can no longer afford to confuse moral vanity with virtue; the time for self-congratulation is over. We need honest, evidence-based legislation that is clearly worded. The current legislation is the equivalent of declaring gravity optional and calling anyone who falls a bigot.
Stella O’Malley