Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)

Speaking to members of the community who were around in the first Pride and subsequent Prides, the movement was rooted in protest, demonstration and anger. We are here tonight in that spirit with regard to transgender healthcare.

I want to read two things. My colleague, Deputy Wall, referred to how we were bottom of the list in Europe with regard to transgender healthcare. In the 2020 programme for Government, the Government's commitment was to:

Create and implement a general health policy for Trans people, based on a best-practice model for care, in line with the World Professional Association of Transgender Healthcare (WPATH) and deliver a framework for the development of National Gender Clinics and Multidisciplinary Teams for children and adults.

That was good and was going in the right direction. The current Government, in its programme for Government, has a commitment to ensure "a transgender healthcare service that is based on clinical evidence, respect, inclusiveness and compassion." This commitment is almost meaningless compared to the commitment in 2020. We are not making progress in this area for the trans community. The trans and intersex Pride march in Dublin and Cork at the weekend demonstrated that. We are actually going backwards. This Government's own messaging is going backwards. That is why we in the Labour Party are today tabling a trans healthcare motion on the Order Paper, which my colleague will talk about in more detail, to bring the Government back to where it should be going.

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