Chai Brady
The Archdiocese of Dublin has offered no objection after a Wicklow primary school’s decision to introduce a new policy that will allow girls to wear trousers and boys to wear skirts in September. Uniform policy is decided by individual schools, with this policy seemingly aimed at transgender children. The Vatican recently reiterated its opposition to gender ideology.
Asked to comment on the decision by St Brigid’s National School in Greystones, a Catholic school under their patronage, the archdiocese said: “A uniform policy that could be considered by schools is that primary school children all have the option to wear a school tracksuit.”
Fr Gerry Young, a priest in Greystones parish, described the new uniform policy as “a political move”. He said. “This has nothing to do with the nature of children growing up and discovering that life has sexuality…I don’t think they have thought it out.”
“You tell me what boy is going to go to school in a skirt? It’s not going to happen.”
However, he said he was more concerned about plans to introduce gender neutral bathrooms. “What I would consider wrong about it, not so much the dress, but the shared toilets,” Fr Young said.
“And boys in particular will have bravado acts, boys get up to devilment, does the teacher have to stand in the toilet to mind what’s going on?”
He added: “Now we’ve come through education and prosperity, where people can make decisions for themselves and that’s to be welcomed, but are they making the right decision? Choice is one thing but what are you choosing?”
Principal Máire Costello said the move was prompted by the school’s student council. She said the students conducted their own research and surveyed students and “made the case to the board who were fully behind them”.
“We have children who are questioning their sexual identity. It is happening at an earlier age. We want all our children to have a happy experience in school,” Principal Costello said.
The move was subsequently agreed on by parents and the board of management.
Chairperson of the school’s management board, Tom Sherlock, said he hopes the move will help students who are questioning their gender.
The main clinic in Britain and Ireland dealing with transgender children is the Tavistock Clinic in London. Five doctors resigned from it recently because they believe that some children struggling with their sexuality are being wrongly diagnosed as “transgender”.
Correction
This article previously incorrectly stated the Tavistock Institute in London deal with transgender children. It is the Tavistock Clinic who are involved in this work.
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a not-for-profit organisation which applies social science to contemporary issues and problems by providing research, consultancy, evaluation, executive coaching and professional development for people and organisations. This includes Group Relations – leadership development: how people can work together in teams/groups by understanding unconscious processes.