For Fintan Warfield, the week of Monday, July 20 had been an otherwise unremarkable one, full of the fairly ordinary comings and goings which comprise the Sinn Féin Senator’s working schedule. Friday of that week was a sitting day, and he and his Seanad colleagues found themselves in the Dáil chamber, relocated there from the smaller space of the Upper House to better allow for physical distancing. Another week was almost chalked off.
That day’s proceedings opened with Order of Business, in which members of the Seanad raise all manner of issues they consider topical, in the hope of adding them to the agenda. Period poverty, the impact of lockdown on rates of domestic violence, a stimulus package for the economy and the growing prevalence of a pungent weed called ragwort in parts of the countryside were among the matters put on the public record by Senators. Notwithstanding new work protocols and political concerns arising from the pandemic, it was standard sitting day fare.
As Warfield’s speaking time arrived, he took to his feet in the drab expanse of the chamber, all deep mahogany wood and gaudy royal blue carpet, and empty-looking on account of the new public health compliant seating configuration. He took the opportunity to make known his intention to resubmit legislation from the previous political term, seeking to amend the Gender Recognition Act. The Act, passed without incident in 2015, is widely seen as deficient insofar as it excludes 16 and 17 year olds from being able to self-determine their gender, while offering no acknowledgement of non-binary experience. Through his Bill, Warfield hopes to correct these shortcomings and to open up a pathway to legal gender recognition for under-16s with parental consent.