Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

A review of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 is taking place. The Act allows trans and non-binary people to determine legally their own gender. However, when seeking to transition medically trans and non-binary people are being forced to jump through massive hoops, sit on impossibly long waiting lists or go abroad for health care, something we said was no longer acceptable. Many people are going through mental torture waiting two to three years. When will the Government bring in legislation to bring us in line with best practice and World Health Organisation, WHO, guidelines in our treatment of transgender people? The WHO states that this is not a health condition yet we are forcing transgender people to go through psychiatric evaluation before they can get hormone or other follow-up. The Government claims that we are following World Professional Association for Transgender Health, WPATH, guidelines but we still have not abolished the psychiatric model of care in favour of informed consent. Teenagers are being forced to wait for years because of the delays in the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. Will the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection agree to meet the This is Me Campaign group which is campaigning on this issue, and which will hold a protest on Saturday at 4 p.m.? Will we implement WPATH and recruit and educate more doctors? There is one endocrinologist dealing with thousands of people seeking treatment.

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