There is no specific time frame for the Government to provide legislation for legal recognition of transsexuals, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore (pictured) said at the weekend.

Speaking at the closing of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (ILGA) European conference in Dublin on Sunday, he said the Government was committed to developing “gender recognition” legislation which would allow people to change their official documents to recognise their preferred gender.

However he said that no time frame for this could be given.

“There is no committed time frame. It’s not a case of putting it off, but I’m not putting a timetable on it.”

Mr Gilmore is the highest ranking official to give a closing speech in the ILGA conference’s 16-year history. In his speech he praised lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people for their “unique insight” into the importance of human rights.

Mr Gilmore said Ireland was honoured to be chosen as a venue for the conference and that it was a testimony to Ireland’s “remarkable journey” on the progression of LGBTI rights.

The four-day international conference – the theme was Advancing LGBTI Equality in Challenging Times – was attended by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday.

Some 235 participants took part in workshops and seminars from 42 countries.

Government proposals, published in July of last year, does not require applicants to have had a ‘sex change’ operation meaning a person with male sex organs could be officially recognised as a woman and vice versa.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton announced the proposals after the publication of a report by the Gender Recognition Advisory Group, which was set up by the previous Minister, Eamon O’Cuiv.

The proposed legislation would require applicants to have lived with their acquired gender for at least two years. If applicants can provide a formal medical diagnosis of their condition they do not have to undergo a ‘sex change’ operation.

However, Senator Katherine Zappone has said that the proposed Government legislation does not go far enough and contains “concepts that will make the situation worse” for transgendered people.

In an article in last week’s Irish Times, Independent Senator Katherine Zappone said: “Trans people may be required to choose between undergoing intrusive surgeries or accepting a diagnosis of a mental illness in order to have their gender recognised.

“Worse still, a forced divorce clause may be included, so that by recognising that someone is trans we do not create “gay marriages” as an unwanted byproduct.”

Senator Zappone favoured the introduction of legislation along the lines of a recent Argentinian law on transgender recognition.

Recognised as the most liberal transgender law in the world, the measure will allow people to alter their gender on official documents without first having to receive a psychiatric diagnosis or surgery, meaning documents will be changed upon their say-so.

It will also require public and private medical practitioners to provide free hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery for those who want it — including those under the age of 18.

In 2002, eight doctors from London’s renowned Portman Clinic, which specialises in treating mental illness, said that those who sought “gender reassignment” treatment tended to be “individuals who, for complex reasons, need to escape from an intolerable psychological reality into a more comfortable fantasy”.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, they said that the desire to seek surgery was “a measure of the urgency and desperation of their situation”.

They said: “By carrying out a ‘sex change’ operation on their bodies, they hope to eliminate the conflict in their minds. Unfortunately, what many patients find is that they are left with a mutilated body, but the internal conflicts remain.”

They described a ruling in 2002 by the European Court of Human Rights which gave a post-operative transsexual person permission to marry in his adopted gender role, as “a victory of fantasy over reality”.