Lydia Foy embraced her senior counsel Bill Shipsey after yesterday's High Court ruling and said she was "absolutely delighted" because it had been "a very, very long and tough battle". Eithne Donnellanreports.
"There are very few people with gender troubles like I had and . . . for the first time ever really we've got a declaration that we haven't complied, we have been too slow to enact the European Convention on Human Rights in this area," she said.
Dr Foy said she believed the Government would act now and that other people like her wouldn't have to go through anything like the battle she had had to endure. "We are a small but very battered minority and there was no provision for us, so it's great that the judge was able to revise his earlier thinking."
Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, said: "We have been very concerned from an equality perspective with the lack of legal recognition for transsexual people in the gender with which they identify and I think the victory today hopefully begins to rectify that inequality that transsexual people have to live with."
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) warmly welcomed what it called the court's "groundbreaking" judgment.
Mark Kelly, its director, said the ruling made clear that Irish law was incompatible with the European convention because it failed to legally recognise the new sexual identity of post-operative transgendered people.
"Most other European countries already respect the autonomy of transgendered people by ensuring that their birth certificates accurately record their new identities. The ICCL calls upon the Government to heed this judgment, and to act promptly to ensure that the human rights of transgendered people living in Ireland are fully respected," he said.
FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres), which represented Dr Foy, said the judgement was an important step towards breaking down stereotypes, accepting difference and creating a more diverse and tolerant society in Ireland.
Opposition parties also welcomed the ruling. Charlie Flanagan, Fine Gael's justice spokesman, said the decision needed an immediate response from the Government.
Joe Costello, Labour's spokesman on human rights, said it was a humane judgment which must now be addressed by the Government.