Transgender people applying for legal recognition of their acquired gender from the age of 16 will be subject to safeguards to protect those at a vulnerable age, under a new Bill.

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton and junior minister Kevin Humphreys have published the Gender Recognition Bill.

Original draft legislation recommended the minimum gender recognition age be 18 years; an Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection recommended it to be reduced to 16 years.

The Bill will allow transgender people to have their status recognised by the State for all purposes – including the right to marry or enter a civil partnership and the right to a new birth certificate, and a gender recognition certificate issued by the Department of Social Protection.

Ms Burton said it was her intention to have the Bill enacted in early 2015.