Seanad candidate slams ‘chaos’ caused by trans-gender ideology

CO Carlow native and Seanad candidate on the Trinity College Dublin panel, Laoise De Brún, has condemned what she describes as the “chaos” caused by trans ideology.

Ms De Brún has positioned herself as the only gender-critical candidate in the upcoming Seanad election on the TCD panel, vowing to bring “clarity and fearlessness” to these debates if elected. Ms De Brún is running on a platform of “child safeguarding, women’s rights, parents’ right and human rights”.

Daughter of Paddy Browne, formerly of Teagasc, and Kay Donnelly, a former teacher at Coláiste Eoin, Hacketstown and now a pyschotherapist in her native Athy, she is originally from Downings, Tullow and attended Grange NS and St Leo’s College, Carlow before studying law at Trinity College. Following university, Ms De Brún moved to London to pursue a career in the media and returned to Ireland in 2020, before being called to the bar in 2022.

She is the only Co Carlow candidate running for the Senate.

A barrister, human rights advocate and founder of The Countess website, Ms De Brún highlighted what she calls two conflicting policy shifts in Northern Ireland last week.

Speaking about the recent permanent ban on prescribing puberty blockers to minors in Northern Ireland, Ms De Brún welcomed the decision.

“This is a major victory for child safeguarding, gay rights and ethical medicine,” she said. “It’s also a step towards depoliticising the treatment of this population of highly vulnerable, distressed minors. However, it comes too late for many teenagers who were prescribed experimental treatments like puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, resulting in irreversible harm. These practices should never have been allowed in the first place,” she said.

Ms De Brún contrasted this decision with the transfer of a male prisoner to a female prison in Northern Ireland just days later, describing the policy as a stark example of how trans ideology permeates policing, prisons and the judiciary.

“A judge was persuaded that the mere lack of a policy on placing trans-identified prisoners justified moving a male prisoner into a female facility. This decision reverses two centuries of prison reform led by advocates like Elizabeth Fry, who sought to protect women from sexual violence in mixed-sex prisons.” She continued: “Currently in Ireland, a male – even a dangerous, violent sexual predator – will be sent to a female prison once he identifies as female. To close this loophole, I have drafted legislation, the first of its kind in the world. Self-ID is an access-all-areas pass for predators, cheats and chancers, and nowhere is this felt more viscerally than in prisons.” The Trinity College panel is open to all graduates of Trinity College Dublin from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, who are registered on the electoral roll.

Ballots for the Seanad election opened on 30 December and will close on 29 January.