Ms Moninne Griffith:

It is because there is no service available. As there is a specialist service that can deal with the matter, it is less that people are pathologised for being trans. I do not think it is about that; it is just that there is no service available. Therefore, what the HSE is looking at and what we are calling for to be prioritised is the provision of such a service that could be provided in a hospital, for example, the children's hospital in Crumlin which has a small clinic, to which people from the Tavistock clinic come. It is now under threat because of Brexit, which is another urgent reason we need an indigenous clinic in Ireland that can work with transgender young people in order that they will not have to visit acute mental health care services. Some of the children involved do not have mental health issues; they just need access to the clinic to be able to receive treatment, perhaps hormone blockers or whatever it is that they require, and in order that they will not be taking up spaces in the system and will have quicker access to services, including the health care services they need. Furthermore, the reason this is so urgent is that young people can come to us at or before puberty and may have socially transitioned, been living in their preferred gender for a number of years and may want to prevent puberty from happening. If they have already been living socially transitioned, going through puberty can have a devastating impact on their mental health and well-being. They cannot access the hormone blockers they need until they have gone through this system with CAMHS; therefore, they could be waiting two years.