Time after time we're told Ireland is a shining light when it comes to self-ID. Such is the institutional capture, we are frequently deferred to the thoughts of a male who transitioned in middle-age in the last three years for evaluation. There is no robust journalistic inquiry 1

The glaring problems that continue to be ignored include:
1. Lack of due democratic process: No transparent public discussion; no examination of lobbying tactics including manipulation of Repeal. Incestuous composition of consultation groups skewed in favour of LGBT lobbyists.

2. Lack of consultation with women & complete institutional capture of funded women's sector. No engagement with parenting groups. No equality impact assessments were undertaken.
3. Composition of HSE gender health group skewed in favour of LGBT lobbyists.

4. Significant rise in number of girls referred to Tavistock clinic in last two years. Concern from Irish medics shutdown, wiped from minutes, concerted media campaign to discredit both individual medics & objective concerns.
5. Lack of adequate consultation with legal opinion

6. Specifically in relation to clear conflict of rights between protected categories in single-sex spaces by enabling gender to trump sex & application to change sex requires no evidence of commitment to living in the opposite sex.

7. This has lead to a male Irish sex offender being house in a female prison after applying to change gender (equated with sex in Irish reform) while in custody with no demonstrable evidence of physical or social gender change.

8. The Law Society of Ireland has raised grave concerns about this legal loophole that was not adequately addressed during drafting of the policy. The female inmates have not been consulted.
9. The introduction of 'gender education' to Irish schools with no input from parents.

10. The teachings are based on out-dated and regressive concepts of gender that reinforce crude stereotypes of male & female to young children who do not have the cognitive ability to understand the adult concept of gender.
11. The ignoring of concerns regarding all of the above

12. The failure of the Irish media to rigorously & objectively investigate all matters pertaining to self-ID; the ignoring of dissenters; the collusion in social media narrative of 'British terfs' & condemnation of anyone questions as being transphobic.

13. The partisan embrace of the politic message - Trans Women Are Women - with no objective analysis of other perspectives, the implications of self-ID & the vilification of researchers involved in the fields as transphobic by journalists including Peter Maguire.

14. The simplification of 'the toilet issue' with no consideration to the perspectives & concerns regarding single-sex provision or engagement with services that rely on same including Women's Aid; the ignoring of incidences of assault in mixed sex wards in Irish hospitals.

15. The abdication of journalistic responsibility with minimal coverage reliant on the thoughts of one trans gender woman in Ireland for the evaluation of self-ID policy for which there is no baseline or consideration given to how it needs to be evaluated - also ignored and/or

16. The personal thoughts of journalists that deliberately simplify issues with comment based on their own narrow experience & biases while routinely ignoring ALL issues referred to here. The media has failed everyone in this regard. @roisiningle @jenoconnell

17. Finally, the ongoing sexist & misogynistic comments from Irish 'left' males in concert with the demonisation of 'British terfs' points to a few critical things:

1. The misogynist streak at the heart of the trans activist movement. The grotesque vilification of women inc

from Irish men is some of the worst to be witnessed on this site. Many exploit their peripheral involvement in Repeal as justification for this, their rogue status as feminist 'allies' and their audacity to belief their have any business in directing feminist discussion.

This brutal misogyny is carried out by blokes who claim to speak for Irish feminism & it is openly & tacitly endorsed by the silence of women. The claim they are unaware of this behaviour next to the close scrutiny of Glinner does not stand up. It is hypocritical at the least.

Combined with the naked racist anti- Brit sentiment, it amounts to some of the most appalling abuse here. It is far from a reflection of a progressive Left.
2. It is clear that those who were involved in the latter stages of Repeal & associated NGOs perceive themselves as an..

...official form of Irish feminism. It's on this basis they claim to speak for all Irish women & go so far as to send open letters to British women, which are historically inaccurate but also ignores the roots of modern female oppression in Ireland (Rome), frames Irish feminism..

..in cheapened faux republican terms that deliberately ignores unionist women & women from all other backgrounds & diversity on this island. The job of Repeal is done. It was the culmination of decades of work. There is no official Irish feminism & its past time those involved..

..took stock of their reach and the limitations of their brief. They do not have a mandate to speak for Irish women.

3. In failing to understand the issues, or undertake necessary journalistic investigation, 'Irish commentators' labour under the idea dissent to self-ID is...

a uniquely British phenomenon. A cursory glance online would reveal it is, in fact, an international one, as issues concerning profound changes to law, child safeguarding, & feminism tend to be. These discussions are being held in (among other places) Canada, France, New Zealand

..Spain, Norway, Sweden, Italy, and so on.

It's past time policy makes, journalists, elected reps, and those funded by the state to represent the rights of women (in all their often incoherent messiness), got off their arses and did their jobs responsibly.

End.