There is a guide being circulated by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, that educates gender-questioning students on their rights within school. It would be one thing to focus on the need for respect and tolerance, but this guide offers very troubling and contradictory information. It tells schools that teachers have a legal requirement to use students' preferred pronouns. Only after a statement from the Department of education did schools, teachers and parents learn that there is no legal requirement for this. Questions must be asked. First, why has a guide that is factually incorrect been circulated by the ICCL? Second, why did the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, which is a publicly funded body, provide €18,000 for a misleading publication? The guide was produced so people can know their rights but it has no basis in Irish law. I do not think the taxpayer would consider this money was well spent. Not only were parents and teachers given advice that was false, but the guide is completely inflammatory. It advises gender-questioning students that if they are unhappy with how their school processes a complaint, they should take things further and go to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. To me, that is outrageous. Teachers have legitimate concerns regarding gender-questioning students and they could find themselves referred to the WRC if they will not use preferred pronouns. NGOs like Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI, ShoutOut and Belong To are not elected bodies, but they shape policy and public debate. They are being backed by huge amounts of taxpayers' money. The level of misinformation they put out is shocking and often goes totally unchecked. Many teachers are simply not comfortable using anything other than a student's given name and biological pronouns. No publicly funded guide should lead teachers to believe that they will be referred to the WRC for acknowledging biological reality.

Hear, hear.