25 passports issued to citizens who had changed gender

The Passport Service last year issued 25 passports to applicants who had changed their gender — seven more than in 2013.

The significant increase was revealed as transgender groups still await the passing of the Gender Recognition Bill 2014 which would also allow them to change their sexual identity on their birth certificates.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Section 11 of the Passport Act allows for a citizen “who has undergone, or is undergoing, treatment or procedures or both to alter the applicant’s sexual characteristics and physical appearance to those of the opposite sex” to apply to the Passport Service to have a passport issued to the applicant in their new name, and if appropriate, to have the new sex of the applicant entered on the passport”.