The Irish Girl Guides says it will now consult with its members.

The Irish Girl Guides says it will now consult with its members.

TRANSGENDER CHILDREN WHO are male on their birth cert but who self-identify as female will be allowed to join the Irish Girl Guides.

The 106-year-old organisation has confirmed that they agreed over the weekend to amend their rules after a transgender member contacted them last year.

The Irish Girl Guides says it will give effect to the decision by amending its equality policy guidelines to include the fact that “anyone who lives their lives as female is welcome to join.”

The Irish Girl Guides accepts children from the age of five and members are part of the Ladybirds at age 5-7 years, the Brownies at age 7-10 years and the Guides at age 10-14 years. After that they can remain in the Senior Branch at age 14-30 years.

The decision to admit transgender children into their membership comes after a similar decision was made by the Girlguiding UK last week. The Irish Girl Guides says their decision was coincidental to that which was taken in the UK.

With the decision now made to admit transgender girls into their ranks, the Irish Girl Guides says it will develop guidelines to about how to welcome such children.

These guidelines will be developed from standards that have been put in place by their counterparts in Canada.

CEO of Irish Girl Guides Linda Peters says they will first consult with their current membership before finalising these guidelines.

“Our board decided to invite one of our own members who has a transgender child to come to our next meeting to help with our discussions and consideration regarding practical guidelines for our volunteer leaders,” she added.