A Dáil debate on a bill brought forward by the Labour Party which seeks to establish “gender-affirming care”, or unquestioning sex-change treatments, in Ireland, has heard leader of Aontú, Peadar Tóibín, describe the Dáil as an “echo chamber” where most TDs “swap science and healthcare for gender ideology” and put “the healthcare of children at risk to follow an ideological approach”.
The bill, proposed by Marie Sherlock of Labour, seeks to replace the National Gender Service with a new clinical programme, and adopt a model with a “focus on General Practitioner-led (GP) care, based on informed consent as per WPATH”.
However, WPATH, the Daíl was told, “is not a clinical protocol”. “The U.S. Denmark, Sweden and Finland have all left WPATH,” Deputy Tóibín said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describing the body as an “ideologically motivated organization”.
Medical experts in the the National Gender Service have cautioned against the “early readiness to begin what could be inappropriate and irreversible medical treatment for patients presenting with gender identity issues”.
Leading endocrinologist, Prof Donal O’Shea, has also warned “that a holistic assessment is vital to separate individuals who are simply “gender questioning” from those with clear and stable gender dysphoria – that is, distress due to a mismatch between gender identity and their sex as assigned at birth”. He also said that the increase in gender questioning that clinicians see in the autistic spectrum group of adolescents and young adults was of serious concern.
Deputy Tóibín raised Prof O’Shea’s concerns in the Dáil yesterday, saying that the medical expert was “deeply committed to people with gender dysphoria” but had “stated at an Oireachtas committee that activists are brainwashing politicians and HSE Management when it comes to proposed new gender recognition laws.”
A CAMPAIGN OF SOCIAL ENGINEERING
The Aontú leader said that Aontú “believes in a compassionate, pluralist Republic”, and that “gender dysphoria is real, it is not easy for anybody and citizens who have gender dysphoria should be treated with respect and decency.”
He then said that: “It is also really important that, as a society, we base our approach on science and evidence. For far too long, this debate in this Chamber has been driven by ideology, and that ideology has been damaging to both children and women. Evidence and science are not optional extras. They are critical in the development of a just and fair society. A woman is a female adult. That sentence is based on logic, science and evidence. It is a sentence that comes with ease to most citizens in this country but, incredibly, very few TDs in this Chamber are able to say it.”
“Over the past ten years, this Government, its predecessors and campaigning groups have embarked on a significant campaign of social engineering,” he added.
Tóibín took aim at actions taken by the government, HSE and the NCCA on the transgender issue.
“Incredibly, the Government has tried to delete the word “woman” from many different aspects of society. It has even tried to delete the word “woman” from maternity legislation. The HSE has used words like “chestfeeding” instead of “breastfeeding”. Among the HSE literature, it has produced a document highlighting issues around cervical checks, saying that “people with a cervix” need to come to the HSE,” he said.
“Teachers have been told on in-service days not to use the words “mother” and “father” in class because it is not inclusive. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has links on its websites to materials for teachers that talk about not using the words “boys” and “girls” in classes for the same reason. A former Taoiseach put pressure on Irish Rugby in the Dáil to reverse its decision to make women’s rugby female only, despite significant evidence that enormous damage is done by male-born players to female players in that competition,” he added.
The Aontú leader was repeatedly disrupted by other TDs when making his remarks, which were described as “disgusting” by Deputy Marie Sherlock.
Deputy Peadar Tóibín: Professor Donal O’Shea of the National Gender Service, which is deeply committed to people with gender dysphoria, stated at an Oireachtas committee that activists are brainwashing politicians—–
Deputy Pádraig Rice: Ah, Peadar, no.
Deputy Peadar Tóibín: —-and HSE management—–
Deputy Pádraig Rice: Jesus.
Deputy Peadar Tóibín: —–when it comes to proposed new gender recognition laws.
A Deputy: The Deputy has done so over social media.
Deputy Peadar Tóibín: Young gay and lesbian people are being told that they are not gay but that they are in the wrong body. A consequence of the Gender Recognition Act—–
Deputy Marie Sherlock: This is disgusting.
Peadar Tóibín said that the Gender Recognition Act “actually allowed male-born prisoners to be put in women’s prisons in this State.”
“It is an incredible situation that we have had individuals who were jailed for horrific sexual offences being located in women’s prisons. Barbie Kardashian was found guilty of threatening to kill, rape and torture his mother. Kardashian was granted a gender recognition certificate by the Department of Social Protection and he was put in a women’s prison, an absolute dereliction of duty by this Government,” he said.
“The Government’s policy on gender affirmation is ignoring the potential comorbidities that can often exist with children and lead them to question their gender. Gender affirmation puts children on a path that can lead to chemicals, puberty blockers and irreversible surgeries and it never deals with the other comorbidities they may be dealing with. They can destroy a person’s fertility and cause serious health damage, in some cases leading to children de-transitioning afterwards.”
The Aontú leader said that “Ireland remains wedded to this policy despite the fact that most other western countries are reversing from this ideological approach. The debate in Ireland is actually stuck in the past in this regard. Most of the rest of the world is moving on.”
He pointed to The International Olympic Committee “moving to a ban on transgender athletes competing in female Olympic events because it is deeply unfair to women.”
“The NHS in Britain has significantly changed its approach, particularly for minors, by ending gender-affirmative care models in youth in England. The US, Denmark, Sweden and Finland have all left WPATH because WPATH is not a clinical protocol.”
AWAIT OUTCOME OF JUDICIAL REVIEW
He urged deputies to await the outcome of a judicial review taken by “the two most experienced clinicians involved in transgender healthcare in Ireland, Professor O’Shea and Dr. Moran”.
He said the doctors “have made a formal complaint to HIQA about the HSE treatment of children with gender identity issues. They say the HSE has been directing children to potentially damaging overseas affirming services. They have been given leave to carry out a judicial review into HIQA.”
“Logic would dictate that we would listen to that judicial review so that we can understand the best way to approach healthcare in this space,” the Aontú ;eader said.
“What does it say about the echo chamber of this Dáil that practically every single other party in this Dáil will swap science and healthcare for gender ideology? What does it say when every single adult in this Dáil, other than a handful, is putting the healthcare of children at risk to follow an ideological approach? ” he asked.
“We need to make sure that science is at the heart of everything we do in terms of healthcare.”
Introducing the Private Members Bill, Deputy Marie Sherlock said that: “For us in the Labour Party, gender recognition was only ever one part of the jigsaw. For us, a compassionate, caring system of healthcare is the other part of the social contract that we owe trans people in this country. While there are many debates about models of care and the rights and wrongs of various institutions, all we want is that young, vulnerable trans people out there are afforded compassionate, appropriate and timely healthcare.”
Health Minister, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, said her “Department has provided funding of €770,000 for the development of the model of care for 2025 and the work is expected to conclude in 2026.”
“Some people, including children and young people, may experience gender dysphoria, which refers to the psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. In that respect, we, first and foremost, try to address many of those psychological, anxiety and mental health needs young children have. The debate has swung as though people are trying to treat them in one way when, in fact, they are trying to treat anxiety and psychological distress in the first instance, as is completely appropriate,” she said.
The Minister said that “in relation to gender recognition, the Minister for children published the national LGBTIQ+ inclusion strategy in June 2025 along with the associated plan for 2025 and 2026. The remaining actions from the gender recognition review of 2025 are included in that strategy.”
“The national strategy also includes a commitment in the first action plan to develop national clinical guidelines for medical nursing and health and social care professionals delivering paediatric care to infants, children and young people with differences in sexual development. These are due to be published in quarter 2 of 2026,” she added.