Responsibility for drafting policies for transgender students in school falls to individual boards of management with no centralised State guidelines, meaning that Ireland is a patchwork of policies.

The 2015 Gender Recognition Act made it possible for adults to legally change gender through self-declaration, and for teens aged 16 and 17 to do so with parental consent and a court order.

The Government has now said that it will look at making the process less onerous for 16 to 17 year olds and is commissioning research into gender recognition for children under 16.

Schools currently rely on help from NGOs like Transgender Equality Network of Ireland (TENI) to help them draft policies, which are sometimes introduced only in response to a trans child joining.

HELP US INVESTIGATE

In the absence of legislation, we will investigate what policies secondary schools have in place for transgender students and how they are developing them.

We will find out what is working and what is needed to best take care of transgender students.

If you want to make a contribution to help this investigation happen, click the 'Fund This Proposal' button. Noteworthy investigations are sourced from and crowdfunded by the public.

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