People travelling on Irish Rail trains will no longer have to declare their gender when booking a seat online, the company has said.
The change is to come into effect in the coming months and follows feedback from the LGBTQ+ community on how gender is represented on Irish trains.
A survey was carried out by Irish Rail, in partnership with Belong To LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland, with a view to better understanding what mattered to these communities when travelling by train.
Sixty-eight adults took part, with more than half of the respondents identifying as gay, 27 per cent as bisexual, 12 per cent as lesbian, 16 per cent as transgender and 14 per cent as non-binary.
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In response to the feedback from the survey, Irish Rail said it would remove all gender titles from its online booking system.
At present, passengers must select either Mr, Mrs or Ms as their title before entering their name when booking a ticket online. Now, they will just enter their name.
The survey was distributed on Irish Rail and Belong To online channels and was not run by an independent polling company.
As part of the survey, Irish Rail made a donation of €5,000 to the support group.
“This approach allowed Iarnród Éireann to gain meaningful insights into the experiences of LGBTQ+ rail users and directly contribute to the delivery of important services for the community,” an Irish Rail spokeswoman said.
Some 71 per cent of survey respondents said they feel safe most of the time as an LGBTQ+ person on public transport, with almost 40 per cent saying rail was more inclusive than other transport options.
More than one third of respondents said they had used trains to attend LGBTQ+ events such as Pride festivals.
