Zappone’s WCs have yet to be made PC
Minister caught short after praising UCD move
THERE are no gender neutral toilets in the offices of Children’s Minister – and prominent equality campaigner – Katherine Zappone despite her this week lauding University College Dublin’s move to re-designate more than 170 toilets for transgender people.
A spokesman for Minister Zappone told the Irish Mail on Sunday there are no such facilities in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on Mespil Road in Dublin 4.
The department of some 200 staff will soon move to Baggot Street in a building to be leased from the Office of Public Works (OPW), which they will share with some staff from the Department of
‘Latest casualty of an ideological tsunami’
Finance. The possibility of having gender neutral toilets there is not known at this time, he added.
‘The minister is not involved in the design of the new building, and we won’t own the new building,’ the spokesman said. ‘But she sees UCD as an example that’s practical by simply changing signs on toilet doors and she does support gender neutral toilets.’
The minister, then a Senator, published the Legal Recognition of Gender Bill 2013, and has been campaigning for gender recognition since 2011.
This later led to the Gender Recognition Act 2015, passed by the Fine Gael/Labour coalition.
While welcomed by many, the introduction of gender neutral toilets has provoked debate and division around the world.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan recently called for more genderneutral toilets to be built in public spaces in the UK capital to help trans and non-binary people feel more comfortable.
But others have expressed safety fears for women and argue that non-binary toilets remove a ‘safe space’ for women and children.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, told London’s Evening Standard the mayor’s proposal was ‘the latest casualty of an ideological tsunami that sweeps common sense and biological reality aside’.
In the US, a law was passed in North Carolina in 2016 requiring people to use public toilets that correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate, with the state’s Republicans arguing the measure was necessary to protect women and children.
A backlash ensued with stars including Bruce Springsteen cancelling concerts.
But the Obama administration hit back, ordering public schools to allow transgender students to use toilets that correspond to their gender identity. This was then revoked by Donald Trump.
A review of the legislative situation in Ireland is under way, the Dáil was told last May, to include the position of people who are non-binary (who feel neither male or female) and those who are aged 16 and 17. It is to report back to the Oireachtas by September.
Speaking at UCD’s Belfield campus this week, Ms Zappone said the work done to introduce gender neutral toilets ‘leads the way not just for the education sector but for all public services and employers’.
But a spokesperson for Trinity College Dublin pointed out that it was ‘one of the first organisations in Ireland to have a policy in relation to transgender’ and has 90 gender neutral toilets.
A snap IMoS survey of some third-level institutions, RTÉ and two government departments has revealed the number of gender neutral toilet facilities in the State now easily exceeds the number of people who applied under the historic Gender Recognition Bill for certificates recognising their preferred gender legally. A total of 295 of these were issued by the Department of Social Protection, following the introduction of the Gender Recognition Act of 2015.
Meanwhile, over 400 gender neutral toilets have been installed in universities and technology institutes, with more to follow.
Stephen O’Hare, chief executive of Transgender Equality Network Ireland, told the IMoS that while the number of transgender people in Ireland is unknown, it is accepted it is less than 1% of the population.
A spokesperson for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the IMoS that there are six gender neutral toilets in his department, three of which are wheelchair adapted.
Pressed on how his department is dealing with transgender matters, Finance Minister Pascal Donohoe said it has run ‘unconscious bias training’ for staff and that over 175 staff attended this last year. It will run again this year.