Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The pace of change is far too slow. This issue has been going on for many years. We need an acceleration and the delivery of high-quality services for people across the country. The current system is operating on an outdated model. As the Minister said, in 2019 the WHO reclassified transgender healthcare as a sexual health issue. Despite this, the services are still being treated here under mental health. Being transgender is not a mental health condition but not having access to these services has an impact on people's mental health. Transgender healthcare services are lifesaving services. In 2013, a Transgender Equality Network Ireland study found that 78% of transgender people had considered suicide, but after they accessed services, that dropped to 4%. These are crucial and lifesaving services.

The Minister spoke recently about a framework to think about services with some that are operating well, some that need to be improved and some that are causing harm. I genuinely believe these services are causing harm to people and need to be improved.

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