People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger has introduced legislation that would recognise non-binary and intersex people in Irish law.
Trans people in Ireland have had the right to change their sex in law since the Gender Recognition Act was enacted in 2015.
However, it currently only allows people to transition from male to female, or female to male and many trans people identify as non-binary, as they do not associate with the traditional male or female binary.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Deputy Coppinger said the State should not “force” people to choose a sex they feel inherently uncomfortable identifying with.
“This legislation is really aimed at giving legal rights and recognition to non-binary and intersex people in Ireland, to allow people to live as who they truly are,” she explained.
“This is a small minority, but they face extreme invisibility, marginalisation, harassment, violence and discrimination.
“So, in 2018, there was a review done of the Gender Recognition Act and it was recommended that non-binary would become an option in the gender recognition cert, but the Government hasn't acted on that.”
Ruth Coppinger on the Dáil plinth. Picture by: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie. The Dublin West TD added that she hopes that, if enacted, the Non-Binary and Intersex Recognition Bill 2026 will help the community with “visibility and recognition”.
“We also have people coming from other countries, by the way, where non-binary is recognised in the law,” she said.
“We've had lots of testimonials from people about how they interact with the Irish State; with the Irish health care system, on their passport and they're forced to choose a gender which doesn't fit with them.
“Even in 22 US states, people are allowed to identify as non-binary, whereas in Ireland, they're not.”
The transgender flag. The bill would also give parents of newborns the option of an X category on birth certificates, instead of obliging them to choose male or female.
The United Nations estimates that 1.7% of the global population are intersex, namely born with sex characteristics that do not fit the traditional binary of male and female.
When an intersex child is born, Deputy Coppinger believes parents should have the right to choose X on that child’s birth certificate.
“Often what happens - and it happens in Ireland too - is that parents are forced to choose one or the other,” she said.
“They're then forced down the road of medically damaging surgery, which has huge impacts on people's lives for a long, long time.
“We want to take away that pressure.”
Dáil Éireann will debate the legislation next week.
Main image: A rainbow and trans flag. Picture by: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie.
