Letterkenny Aontú rep Mary T Sweeney backs Bill to prevent male-born criminals being placed into women’s prisons

Letterkenny-based Aontú representative Mary T. Sweeney has voiced support for her party leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín’s proposed Bill to the Dáil that if passed would prevent male-born criminals from being placed into women’s prisons. The Bill has been developed in consultation with the women’s rights organisation The Countess.

The Aontú Bill seeks to remove the threat of sexual assault or abuse by male-born prisoners in female prisons by providing single-sex accommodation in prisons.

The Bill also provides that a gender recognition certificate does not affect whether a person is deemed male or female for the purpose of applying the existing rule to single-sex accommodation in prisons.

Following the submission of the Bill on Tuesday, June 20, the Donegal Aontú representative said her party believed in a compassionate pluralist Republic and that all citizens are equal and valued no matter what their identity, ethnicity, religion, or orientation.

"Gender dysphoria is real and is not easy for anyone.  However, the rights of one citizen cross a line when they negatively impact on the rights of another. No man should ever be housed in female prison regardless of how they identify. Men and women have been housed in separate prisons since the Gaol Act of 1823.

"A consequence, unforeseen by many, of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 has been a reversal of this 200-year-old policy which was brought about by reformers like Elizabeth Fry to protect unsegregated female prisoners from sexual exploitation and attacks by fellow male prisoners.

"We now have a flawed system where there is no gatekeeper in terms of who can be put into a women’s prison. This has led to the incredible position where male-born prisoners, who have been jailed for horrific sexual offences, are now located in women’s prisons.”   

Citing the case of Barbie Kardashian, a transgender woman, jailed for threatening to rape and murder her

mother, Ms Sweeney added this is a major malfunction in the operation of our prison system which needs urgently addressed.

"Kardashian was granted a gender recognition certificate by the Department of Social Protection and as a result has been placed in Limerick women’s prison. This is a horrendous dereliction of duty by this government in terms of the protection of women. It seems any man can be placed in a women’s prison if he wishes. Women are entitled to safe spaces and it’s clear that this loophole must be closed urgently.”

Laoise de Brún, founder and CEO of The Countess has thanked Aontú for having the courage to dissent from trans-orthodoxy, in order to advocate for the women who are the most vulnerable in society, those kept in the care and custody of the state, 95% of whom are non-violent.

"The Countess has long viewed granting of a gender recognition certificate as an access-all-area pass for predators, transgressors and cheats. Nowhere are the consequences felt more viscerally than in prisons.

"The recent public outcry that ensued in Scotland when a male rapist was housed in a female prison is predicated on Scotland having no legal requirement to house trans-identified men in a female prison. That is not the case in this jurisdiction where we have full, unfettered self-ID and a legal requirement to treat all men who acquire gender recognition certificates as though they were women.

"The only solution is to limit the scope of the gender recognition certificate, which is what we have done in the drafting of this amendment.

"In all prison systems beholden to gender self-ID, the data is the same and irrefutable. Trans-identified male prisoners are more likely to be sex offenders than other male prisoners and sexual predators are using this loophole to get sent to female prison. Legislators must vote to close the gaps that are now obvious to all reasonable people and to amend the GRA to exclude prisons from the scope,” added the Aontú representative.