Katherine Zappone

Ní Mhuirthile & Ryan on the Legal Recognition of Gender Bill 2013

Tanya Ni Mhuirthile, , , Leave a comment

Kath ZappHuman Rights in Ireland welcomes this guest post from Dr Tanya Ní Mhuirthile & Dr Fergus Ryan. Tanya is a Senior Lecturer in the Law Faculty, Griffith College Dublin. Fergus is a Lecturer in the Department of Law, DIT.

Last week Senator Katherine Zappone introduced the Legal Recognition of Gender Bill 2013 (LRG Bill 2013)in the Seanad. The Bill is the second in as many months to aim to resolve the incompatibility identified by the High Court in Foy v An tArd Chláraitheoir (No 2) (2007) IEHC 470. The other Bill, Sinn Féin’s Gender Recognition Bill 2013, was introduced in the Dáil on May 23rd 2013. This post will discuss the more recent Bill.

The Legal Recognition of Gender Bill 2013 establishes a simple scheme to facilitate the legal recognition of preferred gender where that differs from the gender noted on the register of births. It adopts a self declaration model which acknowledges and accepts that individuals are the experts on their own identity and gender. Under the scheme, applicants complete a statutory declaration as to the gender as which they wish to be legally acknowledged and file this at their local registry office. An entry will then be made on the Gender Recognition Register, which will operate akin to the adoption register in that it is private and access thereto is restricted. Once an entry has been place in the Gender Recognition Register, any request for a birth certificate will draw the information from the new Gender Recognition, rather than the birth, register. Recognition is prospective only. Thus anything done previously in the birth gender remains legally valid.

There are three notable features Continue reading “Ní Mhuirthile & Ryan on the Legal Recognition of Gender Bill 2013” →

Ní Mhuirthile & Ryan on the Legal Recognition of Gender Bill 2013

Conference on the Future Role of the European Union Structural funds to Advance Community Living for Older People and People with Disabilities

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The Centre for Disability Law and Policy at National University of Ireland, Galway will run a conference on the 3rd of May 2013.   The title of the conference will be ‘Community Living for all’ – A Conference on the Future Role of the European Union Structural funds to Advance Community Living for Older People and People with Disabilities’. It will be ‘an event in association with the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU’ which is appropriate given that a stated priority of Ireland’s EU Presidency will be to finalise agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) that will determine the EU budget from 2014-2020 and therefore cohesion funding.  The event is jointly directed by Senator Katherine Zappone, member of the Senate of Ireland and the Centre for Disability Law & Policy directed by Professor Gerard Quinn. 
The conference is open to all interested in the development of positive EU social policy in the fields of ageing and disability. 

The speakers are drawn from a variety of EU-level institutions and others including the European Commission, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions, the United States Federal Administration for Community Living.  European level civil society groups will be represented by the European Disability Forum and Age Platform Europe.  The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (European Region) will also be represented.  The growing role of European philanthropy in achieving community living will be represented by the European Foundation Centre. 

The conference will be opened by the Irish Minister for Older People, People with Disabilities, Mental Health and Equality – Kathleen Lynch, T.D.  More details on the conference and registration is available here.


Conference on the Future Role of the European Union Structural funds to Advance Community Living for Older People and People with Disabilities

The Right to Social Security is worth Protecting

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Human Rights in Ireland welcomes this guest post from Saoirse Brady, Policy and Advocacy Officer in Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), as part of its contribution to Human Rights Week 2012.

Social welfare law reform has been a key priority for FLAC for many years. To mark human rights week, FLAC takes this opportunity to look at the importance of the right to social security particularly in light of the recent Seanad motion inspired by our research on the social welfare appeals system Not Fair Enough. The impact of yet another austerity budget remains to be seen but the chances are that it will take its toll on the appeals system.

On 7 November, Independent Senator Katherine Zappone and her colleagues laid a motion before the Seanad based on a number of the recommendations in FLAC’s report. The motion was reasonable in scope: it called for an audit of the Appeals Office to ensure compliance with human rights obligations as outlined in FLAC’s report which gave in-depth analysis of how domestic and international human rights law applies to the appeals system. The motion also suggested a number of very practical steps: furnishing appellants with a copy of their social welfare files; including an option to request an oral hearing on the appeals form and simplifying and making more accessible application forms. These sensible steps would not be expensive to implement, but crucially, would enhance the way in which the system operates and rebalance the scales for appellants who at the moment are often at an unfair disadvantage.

During the Seanad debate, Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD, welcomed FLAC’s report Continue reading “The Right to Social Security is worth Protecting” →

The Right to Social Security is worth Protecting