Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says ‘violent biological males should not be in women’s prisons’

Mr Varadkar said the law may need to be changed to ensure female prisoners are protected.

The Taoiseach’s comments came as he was asked for his views on the sentencing of Barbie Kardashian who was imprisoned for five and half years for threatening to torture, rape and murder her mother.

“I know that a similar situation arose in Scotland and it was necessary there to change the law to make sure that women were protected,” the Fine Gael leader said.

Kardashian (21) was jailed last week for threatening to torture, rape and murder her mother.

She changed her name by deed poll and was granted a gender recognition certificate by the Department of Social Protection in 2020.

The Taoiseach today said he “only heard of this case for the first time in the Sunday papers” and did not wish to comment on it in detail without being briefed.

“I actually don’t know anything about the case yet,” he said. “I first saw it reported on the weekend and I need to look into it and talk to Minister Harris about it.”

When asked if he believes biological males should be put into women’s prisons he said: “No, I don’t quite frankly.”

“If a situation that arose in Scotland has now arisen in Ireland, well, then we’re going to have to deal with it in a similar way,” he said.

Mr Varadkar added that he did not “want to comment on it in detail without a chance to be briefed on it properly.”

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) recently announced transgender offenders would be sent to jails matching the gender they were assigned at birth.

The case of double rapist Isla Bryson forced the SPS to reconsider previously inclusive policies when Bryson was sent to a women’s prison.