Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their questions. On Deputy Tóibín's question, I put on the record that the Government is very grateful for and recognises the work done by the religious in Ireland and all over the world. Given the scandals that have affected churches and religious bodies and given the existence of religious extremism in the world, sometimes that can be forgotten, but it should not be forgotten. We will all know of people - nuns, priests and other religious people - who have made an enormous contribution to society and have given their lives, essentially, to help others. We have see that in healthcare, education, housing, addiction services and poverty alleviation, for example. It is easily forgotten that when the State was founded 100 years ago, we did not have a Department of social welfare and we did not have a Department of Health. Most people at the time did not consider these things to be matters for the State. It was often left to voluntary and religious bodies to fill that gap. Of course, things have changed so much since then.

We intend to get the safe access zones Bill enacted this year. I have not had any engagement with religious leaders on it specifically, although the last meeting I participated in was in 2021 and that was quite some time ago at this stage. It certainly was not raised with me by the papal nuncio or by the Archbishop of Dublin.

I am going to have to seek an update from the Minister on Saint John of God. I am aware of some of the issues facing the organisation, but I am not fully up to date.

I am sure these things will be resolved by negotiation - they always are - but I will seek an update from the Minister on it today, given the Deputies have raised it.

In respect of education about trans people, trans people exist. They have always existed. Now they can be more open about it, which is a good thing, but we have a long way to go. It is my view that it is right that children should learn about people who are transgender and what that means. I would prefer it if children learned about these things from their teachers in their schools rather than in the schoolyard, and from their loving parents rather than the Internet. If we do not have education in schools, I think we are letting children down in that regard.

Trans healthcare is a new and evolving area of medicine. It is controversial and there is a lot of disagreement within the profession about what the right treatments, diagnoses and investigations should be. There is so much we do not know about it; we are still learning. It is very important that NGOs should be consulted but, as with any area of healthcare, it has to be based on science and not on politics. It has to be led by science. I say that as somebody who is an LGBT advocate and a member of the LGBT community. Really, healthcare has to be led by science, not by politics.

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