Brophy Solicitors have reported that they successfully petitioned the Department of Justice & Equality to recognise their client’s gender change from male to female on the Register of Non-Nationals. The client Ms Loh, petitioned both the Department and the Garda National Immigration Bureau to amend her identity documents as a significant part of her change of gender process. Both bodies refused to amend the documents on the basis that such an amendment would be beyond their individual remits.
The Register of Non Nationals is operated by the Minister for Justice and Equality under the Immigration Act 2004. Ms Loh’s lawyers argued that there is nothing within that act that prohibits the amendment of the register to a person’s change of gender. They also argued that the Garda National Immigration Bureau was obliged by section 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 to carry out their functions in a manner that is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, which required the recognition of Ms Loh’s new gender.
Following advice from the Attorney General, the Department of Justice granted Ms Loh the permission to re-register as a female. She was granted a GNIB registration certificate and a travel document reflecting her true gender.
Click here to read a Brophy Solicitors blog post about the recognition of Ms Loh’s gender.
Click here to read recent updates on the Gender Recognition Bill in a previous PILA Bulletin. In the Brophy Solicitors blog article, Karen Berkeley notes that “while the Gender Recognition Bill may perhaps [be] a step in the right direction, Ireland still appears to be well behind its EU counterparts with respect to recognition of transgender persons. Nearly seven years past the [Lydia Foy ruling] on the issue, the State has failed to respond, leaving its transgender citizens on the fringe, and opening itself to heavy criticism from the international human rights community.”