Dr Niamh Regan is a campaigner for parental rights in Ireland. Niamh’s efforts to raise concerns about gender ideology in her son’s primary school highlight the shocking extent of institutional capture across the Irish education system.
When her son’s primary school opened a consultation on a new anti-bullying policy, Niamh was concerned by what she saw. Rooted in the Bí Cineálta (‘Be Kind’) procedures developed by the Irish Department of Education, the policy treated bullying as a matter of identity, positioning some forms of bullying as worse than others. Particular groups of children, including those believed to have ‘gender identities’, were singled out as more deserving of protection.
At public meetings about the policy, Niamh rejected the idea that bullying should be addressed through an identity based hierarchy, rather than by taking a zero tolerance approach to all forms of abuse. She explained that her family did not believe in the concept of gender identity, and that the policy therefore conflicted with her values and beliefs as a parent.
The principle that “the parent is the primary educator of the child” is meant to be at the heart of the Irish education system. Nonetheless, Niamh was astonished when her concerns were dismissed and ignored by her son’s school. Teachers insisted that they were just ‘being kind’ and the policy was passed without amendment.
Niamh began to trace the organisations and institutions embedding gender ideology in schools, powerful LGBT lobby groups using what’s called the ‘Denton’s Strategy’. The Denton’s Strategy uses apparently uncontroversial policies on things like bullying, Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE), or reading lists as a smokescreen to embed contested concepts like gender identity across the school system. Niamh explains how this strategy goes all the way to the top, impacting not just individual schools or local councils, but national and even international legislative systems. The European Union itself is pushing gender identity ideology onto unwilling parents and children.
Detransition Awareness Day 2026: Life Beyond Transition
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Niamh Regan
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Other References
“The document that reveals the remarkable tactics of trans lobbyists.” (James Kirkup. The Spectator. 2019): https://spectator.com/article/the-document-that-reveals-the-remarkable-tactics-of-trans-lobbyists/
“Bí Cineálta Procedures to Prevent and Address Bullying Behaviour for Primary and Post-Primary Schools”: https://oide.ie/post-primary-news/bi-cinealta/
Irish National LGBTIQ+ Inclusion Strategy II 2024-2028: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/campaigns/national-lgbtiq-inclusion-strategy-ii-2024-2028/
Commentary on the Welsh Trans Inclusion Toolkit: https://www.transgendertrend.com/the-vale-of-glamorgan-transgender-inclusion-schools-toolkit/
“Untying the Welsh Gender Knot: Will the Welsh Government Follow Cass?” (Ben Sears. Genspect. 2024): https://genspect.org/untying-the-welsh-gender-knot-will-the-welsh-government-follow-cass/
Bully-Proof Kids: Practical Tools to Help Your Child to Grow Up Confident, Resilient and Strong. (Stella O’Malley. 2017): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bully-Proof-Kids-Practical-Confident-Resilient/dp/0717175421
Beir Bua Education: https://www.beirbuaeducation.ie/
