This is the RTÉ report on the TENI presentation to the Oireachtas committee on sport today:
'Exclusionary policies' preventing transgender people from sport, committee told
Wednesday, 21 Oct 2026
By RóisÃn Cullen
"Exclusionary policies" are preventing transgender people from playing sport, an Oireachtas committee has heard.
The Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport was having a discussion on inclusion in sport this afternoon.
The Executive Director at Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) also told the committee that trans people should be able to participate in the gendered categories "that is their gender".
In opening statements, Daire Dempsey said children as young as 12 and adults "have been asked to leave their clubs as a result of an exclusionary policy decision that was made within their national governing body".
They also told the committee that people who have been valued and committed members of clubs "are being excluded, or being asked to leave, or being told they cannot continue participating, training, or competing".
They said this is due to policy decisions based on "bad research", "poor science" and misconceptions.
The Executive Director said there has been a "marked increase in negative and political discourse about trans people participating in sport, particularly in the last five years".
As a result of this, they said, sports bodies and states around the world have introduced "exclusionary policies to restrict or ban trans people from sport".
"Many of these policy decisions are fuelled by deeply flawed research by concerns about safety and fairness that are well-founded but misdirected".
They said an estimated 1% of the population is trans and "most people don't know anyone who is trans".
"Decisions about our access and our participation in sport are being made by people who not only are not trans, but perhaps have never met or spoken with trans person," they said.
They said policies for elite competitions "trickle down to grassroots or recreational sports clubs".
They said trans people have always participated in sport, and have been valued members of clubs around Ireland.
"We want trans people to be able to head to their local GAA club, or swimming pool, or sailing club on a Saturday morning and have fun, and be part of a team, and stay healthy, and be treated the same as everybody else," they said.
They said everyone should have equal opportunities on a level playing field, including the trans community,
Social Democrats TD Daniel Ennis said it was shocking that "children as young as 12 have been asked to leave clubs" as a result of such policies, and asked what changes could be made to prevent that happening and harassment.
Daire Dempsey said: "Trans men and trans women should be able to participate in the men and women's categories."
They said there are some sports where "the split between genders is only happening at a competition level". However, in other sports, they said the split "happens at the level of basic training, basic recreation".
"This really does impact people the whole way down," they said.
"We should be encouraging trans people to be able to get involved in sport and to be afront for who they are in that sport."
They said: "Saying you can come and play sport,but you have to play in the gendered category that you're not, or the team that you're not, is not a route into sport."
"We need to be allowing people to be participating in the sport for who they are."'
'Challenges that cannot be wished away', says Mullen
Independent senator Ronan Mullen said while he has "great sympathy for people who want to belong", he also has sympathy for parents "who want to make sure their children are secure and safe".
He said the "matter of young girls not being endangered by physically stronger biological males" is a "very real concern", and was reflected in the policies of sporting organisations.
"That is important. It cannot be wished away," he said, adding that there are also concerns about "women's safety in women's spaces".
"The concerns that they have are real. They are evidence-based, and they can't be wished away in the context of a general desire for inclusiveness."
He said there will have to be "give on all sides" when it comes to a resolution.
"There are challenges in the discussion, and those challenges cannot be wished away," he said.
Senator Mullen said he is "vocal and will continue to be vocal about the need to keep young girls safe, in the context of sporting events and how they are organised, and also women safe, in the context of the protection of women's spaces".
He said he hopes that "we can be creative in finding ways nonetheless to have an aspiration that's towards inclusion as opposed to marginalisation".
'No advantages'
In response to Senator Mullen's comments about safety, Deputy Ennis re-read Daire Dempsey's briefing document "that we all should have read".
"There is no direct or consistent research to suggest that either transgender women or transgender men have athletic advantage in sport," he read.
He highlighted the harassment that transgender people face, adding "it doesn't help when you're getting that from public reps as well".
He asked Daire Dempsey if they wanted a chance to respond to Senator Mullen's comments.
They said it "feels common sense to say there are biological differences between women and men and that results in an advantage or disadvantage in sport".
They continued: "Actually, when you get into the literature and the research that exists... we don't find that.
"We don't find that trans women or trans men retain any advantages over other women or men in sports," they said.
"It's really challenging to have that misconception be bleeding through the actual evidence that's there and informing the policy decisions that are being made, without us, without consulting with us," they said.
In relation to the safety of women and girls in sports, they said: "Safety is as key for us at is for everybody around this room."
"When we look at trends around gender-based violence, it is overwhelmingly violence, that is committed by men against women. It is not violence that is stemming from trans people," they said.
They said trans people experience "extraordinarily high rates of gender-based violences and sexual assault" in general.