Ireland

[SuperSleepyBaby]

Reading about the Sandi Peggy case and the various issues that have arisen in Scotland - the rape crisis centre, secret cameras in mixed sex toilets in schools, Isla Bryson, Katies Dolatowski etc - it makes me think, is there just as much issues in Ireland?

i know Barbie Kardashian, the male player on a women’s GAA team. Are there as many issues in Ireland as there is in Scotland, but not really reported on in Ireland?

AnSolas my friend is a prison officer and works in a men's prison. As a pp said Barbie Kardashian is male and was in a female prison in a segregated unit, so it absolutely does happen.

And yes it costs an absolute fortune.

The Paddy's podcast that deals with it makes it clear that the issues for the women preisoners involved are: loss of recreation and association time because of the men/TW (for safety reasons); having to listen to foul sexualised language from the men/TW; fear of the men/TW finding out about their own or their families' home addresses, personal details etc.; being forced to lie about the sex of the men/TW and being punished if they don't, in some cases by not being moved to prisons with educational and other supports.

It is disgraceful that women who have often lived fairly grim lives are having to take extra punishment to pander to males.

And of course the women prison and ancillary staff have their own problems.

TheKeatingFive
Its that the service has set up a solution.

He would be managed as a violent high risk due his history of attacks on female staff and if memory serves me the minimum male team was 5 officers in the youth service.

So the service can lawfully isolate him for the safety of staff and to protect the right of the women not to be atracked (i know the 2nd case 🤷‍♀️)

But the first one was 'only' violent to his child victim

He was the first male in 2019 a child sex offender moved out from Dublin (which has a dedicated womens complex ) after about 12 months.
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2019-09-06/553/

Then then there was the male done for assault in a pub in Dublin sentenced in 1 March 2021 2 yrs 1 suspended so by 2023

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2023-02-01/194/

Plus BK

There was a prison visitor report about one being called him by staff and the male staff doing stripsearching see 6(5) about gender of PO

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2007/si/252/made/en/print#article6

There was this case
https://m.sundayworld.com/crime/courts/belfast-woman-cleared-of-battering-elderly-mum-in-row-over-table-salt/a931036709.html

And this
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-41508884.html

I noticed the 2023 prison report has 7 women listed under sexual offences. From memory that is very high as it was 1 to 3 per year in pre 2019 years

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/c5f3a-irish-prison-service-annual-report-2023/

Important according to Paddy O Gorman - looks like the TA agenda is being quietly sidelined at high levels.

Paddy O’Gorman’s Letter from Ireland
New Government Cooling on Trans Issues
When Simon Harris became Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) in April 2024, we noted at the time that he was the first person to have ever assumed that office to have pronouns in his social media profile. In the new Irish government, recently formed, Harris is now Tánaiste (deputy prime minister). Harris has removed the he/him from his page on Linked In. The change is significant. The incoming government is not greatly different in make-up from the last government; it is once again a coalition built around the two main centre-right parties. But the new government has radically reversed its predecessor’s support for the trans agenda.

More
https://genspect.org/paddy-ogormans-letter-from-ireland/

Progress for sure, lots more to be done and the damage is still going on in schools, prisons etc.

Thanks for that @fromorbit I've just read the whole piece and it is certainly positive.

https://x.com/GaelsFairPlay/status/1897196607793148093?t=74gYzBCtZSKvIhlVFhYU5g&s=19
Meath County Council

I've seen a few tweets about this, it is absolutely disgusting. The only way this will change is if parents get involved. Refuse to allow their girls to train or play in a match if a male is on the pitch. And sue the arse off LGFA if there have been any injuries.

It seems the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael councillors voted to reject the motion (to change the policy back to the way it used to be) but Sine Fein councillors voted to support the motion. I was surprised by that tbh, I thought Sinn Fein were supportive of all things trans? I was wrong obviously.

Disappointed in FF and FG (again)!!

https://meathlive.net/2025/03/04/they-towed-party-line-with-lack-of-backbone-claims-councillor/

Oh I think they're all brainwashed by the NGOs. Not an ounce of critical thinking among them.

Not Sinn Fein though, they voted to reverse the policy change of 2023.

Despite what TENI Law claims, you do need a GRC to be considered as the other sex legally.

I have raised this at work as our equality procedures claim gender in legislation includes gender identity and that a GRC is not required to be entitled to be treated as the other sex. Problem is though that you are not allowed to ask to see a GRC so have to "trust" them to comply.

Where I work (university) they have renamed the disabled toilets as disabled/all-gender toilets. I haven't yet encountered a male in the women's toilets but there aren't too many students using the toilets I use so it may be different in other areas.

Problem is though that you are not allowed to ask to see a GRC so have to "trust" them to comply this is the problem indeed, it's farcical!!

So they're taking over a space that is needed by people with a disability. Oh God the whole thing is really enraging me this week I don't know why. I'm so sick and tired of it all.

I don't know that that was the case with all the laundries. I know a nun who was a magdalene nun. She told me stories about going with the gardaí to find women who had run away from the laundry. Maybe if you had a respectable male relative to collect you they would let you go but the women in that laundry were not allowed leave or look for a job outside.

They’re already often taken over by people needing to change a child’s nappy. Lots of disabled toilets are baby changing ones too which isn’t great. Often quite smelly for a start.
It’s probably not a problem in work environments, but it can be an issue when out and about for sure.

I know. It's horrific. There are a lot of disabled toilets so I don't think it's a major practical issue in terms of access for disabled people. But that's absolutely not the point. Maybe we should be asking the question why we have so few students/staff with physical disabilities and start to work on removing the very real barriers to access to third level. But it's easier to throw a new sign on doors and pat themselves on the back for eliminating discrimination against the most vulnerable group of all. Equality box ticked without any major effort or cost.

And in a 2 unit toilet situation its the
• Mens or
• Mens Disbled /Women /Womens Disabled /Baby

Disabled people campaigned for decades to have accessible toilets, and now at the drop of a hat they are turned over to trans people so they don't feel 'uncomfortable'.

Sometimes this is done unofficially - 'If you aren't comfortable using the Men's, and the women won't have you in the Women's, just use the Disabled toilet even though you're able-bodied'
It is mindboggling that a university actually went around officially changing the accessible toilets to, basically, anybody's.

The fact that just because one tiny group of people - transgender people - kicked up a fuss about not wanting to use the toilets designated for their sex, the hard-won rights of disabled people were so easily taken away is beyond outrageous.

It is such a chilling illustration of how little disabled people matter, and how disproportionally transgender people do.

Just as women should be able to trust men not to use the women's toilets, disabled people should be able to trust able-bodied people to respect that the accessible loos are not for them, and need to be left free at all times to those who can't just pop along to the next available loo.

There'll always be the minority of able-bodied people who will use the disabled loo just because they prefer it🙄 or - let's be realistic - someone who is absolutely dying for a pee and it's the only one free - but they are the exception: accessible loos are for disabled people, they are not easy fixes for the demands of TRAs.

Why has the university in question not been legally obliged to return the accessible loos to their original purpose? Isn't it part of building regs? Have there been protests? Does anybody except disabled people give a damn about their rights?

Why has the university in question not been legally obliged to return the accessible loos to their original purpose? Isn't it part of building regs? Have there been protests? Does anybody except disabled people give a damn about their rights?

I think the building regulations require the provision so accessible toilets. I don't think they require that those facilities should only be available to those who are disabled. That would be a bit of a minefield. How would you classify disabled in a way that doesn't discriminate. For example, someone with Crohn's disease doesn't necessarily need the extra space but might require the privacy or immediate access to the toilet. Someone with severe arthritis may need more space than is provided in many cubicles.

Of course there haven't been protests. After all, most vulnerable, most discriminated against etc etc.

I give a damn about disabled people and their rights. I am on the EDI committee and keep bringing up disability and socio-economic discrimination. Everyone agrees they're important but nothing gets done.

I wouldn't be too hopeful about SF seeing the light
https://x.com/Gaynotqueer1/status/1897352156925321603?t=B6gWA39gMnY5VuQosAgozQ&s=19

I wouldn't bet money on SF changing tack unless the boys who run SF decide that Mary Lou has delighted them long enough.

For now, we can only hope that their opportunistic streak kicks in when they're forced to defend something really unpopular.

Bit more of that cynical opportunism wouldn't go amiss in a few countries, though.