Gender ideology: Ireland’s new religion?

This is the second session at Battle of Ideas Dublin 2025.

Beyond the UK – dubbed ‘TERF Island’ – gender-identity ideology remains hardwired into policymaking across Europe. Ireland’s Gender Recognition Act (GRA) was enacted in 2015 and politicians boast it was one of the first countries in the world (fourth globally) to permit full self-ID for adults without medical intervention. A Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) can be issued within weeks, updating all legal documents (such as birth certificate and passport) for a €20 fee.

Elsewhere only last year, Germany passed one of the broadest self-ID laws – opening up legal sex changes to children and imposing fines on anyone who publicly discloses someone’s transition. In Spain, the self-ID law allows anyone over 16 to change legal sex without medical evaluation. In France, a new mandatory sex-education curriculum will introduce teaching about gender identity in schools.

In stark contrast, Hungary amended its constitution in 2025 to state explicitly that a person’s sex at birth is biological and either male or female. In Britain, the Supreme Court has clarified the reality of biological sex in relation to equality law and single-sex spaces. Why is Ireland wedded to gender ideology?

What’s more, why does Ireland allow the ideology to silence any dissent? Earlier this year, John Boyne, one of Ireland’s most successful gay authors, became the centre of a firestorm over his nomination for the Polari Literary Prize. After a backlash over Boyne’s gender-critical views, the Polari Prize was ‘paused’ – in other words, cancelled this year.

How can the Irish open up political space for public debate, critical analysis and sex-based perspectives that knows what a woman is?