Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I call for a full inquiry into the ongoing system of unsafe medical practice in Ireland. On foot of the news over the summer that the UK's interim report by Dr. Hilary Cass found that the standards of clinical care, assessment and treatment at the Tavistock and Portman gender identity clinic fell below acceptable levels, we should have instantly examined how this has affected Irish children who were sent there. To my knowledge, this was not done. Having spoken to an expert from the National Gender Service, I know that not only were Irish children sent to London to receive medical hormonal intervention at the soon to be defunct clinic, but psychologists were being flown over from the Tavistock clinic to a satellite clinic in Crumlin hospital to carry out work there. This was being operated under the treatment abroad scheme. That scheme is for Irish people to visit an EU state to receive medical care they would otherwise not be able to receive here. No part of that scheme deals with the flying in of psychiatrists from a non-EU country to do business in Ireland. Critically, this meant these medical professionals are operating with zero indemnity. They are not covered under the Irish scheme and they are not covered by the NHS for work done in Ireland. The higher-ups in Crumlin hospital did not even know that this was happening.

Why was this done? It was because it was convenient and it allowed this to happen under the radar without having to flag anything to the HSE by asking for a budget. Millions of euro have been spent on this over the years. By 2019, members of the National Gender Service had written to Crumlin hospital's clinical director to voice their concerns at the practices and the care in these clinics. At a subsequent meeting these same individuals asked for basic information from the clinical staff about how many children had been put on hormone treatment or puberty blockers. They did not know. They asked if they could see the assessment records of the patients. They have a few but nowhere near the correct total. It was then that our own medical professionals judged the Tavistock-Crumlin satellite clinic to be ungoverned and unsafe.

One of the National Gender Service head psychologists flagged this with the HSE, urging it to conduct a complete review of the Crumlin case at a clinical and legal level.In response, he received a letter of comfort and no further action. We need a full clinical and legal inquiry into the activities of Tavistock psychiatrists at Crumlin hospital, to check in with the children who have been impacted and to make sure that they are looked after. This inquiry is an ask of the multiple experienced clinical psychiatrists who have spent over 20 years providing holistic health and mental care specifically for transgender people who are saying what has been done here is wrong. One cannot rush children onto irreversible puberty blockers. Other countries have stopped this. Why can we not see the writing on the wall and do the same? I would appreciate the Leader calling for an inquiry into this as the Leader of the House.