Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

You could sing that, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. Fáilte romhat a Bhlaithnaid. Last week I asked that we would have debates with the Minister for Health and the Minister for Education about the very sensitive area of gender dysphoria and how the Government is dealing with the issue in its various Departments.

I feel I must ask for this again all the more urgently in light of the latest comments from the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, in response to a simple letter from school managers to the Minister of Education, Deputy Norma Foley, and the Minister for Children, Equality Disability, Integration and Youth of Ireland, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman. The school managers expressed their concerns, while emphasising the need for and the practice of treating every child with respect, including those who present with gender dysphoria issues. They pointed out that there is no scientific consensus on the cause of gender dysphoria and indeed there is an intense international debate on the appropriate treatment of children in this situation.

The school managers also expressed the view that it is neither prudent nor age-appropriate to attempt to teach primary schoolchildren about "what it means to be transgender". The fear is that in with all of the many issues that are mixed in there, there may be an element of social transmission. What we got was the Tanaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, coming out and saying that a letter is not the way to deal with such concerns. Who is he to tell any stakeholder in education that they may not express their feelings in a letter - a sensitively written letter at that?

This is the second time Deputy Martin has tried to close down debate on this issue. He referred to a debate that took place on Liveline as "toxic" when people were, as far as I understand it, quite respectfully expressing their views and concerns about this important issue. Deputy Martin would prefer that this be left to the teaching of the RSE programme in schools. This completely ignores the concerns that have been expressed about the NCCA sponsoring or in some way recommending completely inappropriate materials in some of the books being pushed at children in schools. These materials include references to cross-dressing and boys wearing lipstick and all sorts of stuff that has parents around the country sitting up and questioning what the Government is at.

What kind of groupthink has taken hold, not just of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, whose views on this have been well known for a long time? The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, wants self-identification for children as young as 16 or 17 according to recent comments at a time when this approach is being questioned in several countries. We have perfectly responsible stakeholders in education saying they are concerned about this not being the way to care for children and that they are already dealing with the issue very sensitively in our schools. We have the Taoiseach glibly saying everything must be talked about.

Not every fact is appropriate for a young child in school. We have Deputy Martin trying to close down discussion before it even starts. This is not a democratic impulse coming from the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach. This is a totalitarian mindset, in small letters and it must end. There must be a healthy debate where people get to communicate their ideas separately and sensitively and where all of these issues are gone through very carefully and where people are not coerced into silence by a Government that does not want to answer hard questions.