The Ombudsman for Children has told an Oireachtas Committee that he cannot say whether puberty blockers should be banned for children in Ireland, with the head of the Government office being pressed this afternoon on whether children can change their sex.
The exchanges happened before the Joint Committee on Children and Equality which met on Thursday to discuss his Annual Report for 2024 and priority topics and issues facing the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, and related matters. Senator Sharon Keogan, a member of the Committee, had asked Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon a range of questions relating to Irish referrals to Tavistock, and whether his organisation had considered concerns relating to the ability of children to give informed consent to what she deemed “significant legal and medical changes.”
‘DO YOU BELIEVE CHILDREN CAN CHANGE THEIR SEX?’
“I spent, I think, 26 minutes reading out all the different genders that are listed in the Seanad when we were dealing with a piece of legislation,” Senator Keogan said. “I would ask you not to get captured by this. I want the children to receive the care that they need and the support that they need as they navigate their early years, and their teenage years. I want that support and I want that counselling to be given to our children. But I don’t want children to believe that they can change their sex. I don’t want children to believe that. Do you believe children can change their sex?”
“Can you tell me what your position is in relation to children changing their sex?” the Senator asked.
“I’ve always said we look to each child to provide their rights. The State needs to provide the opportunity for every child to reach their potential – and that’s different for every child,” the Ombudsman replied.
“Reach their potential? So you believe that every pathway should be given to that child – if a child says at five years of age, I don’t want to be a girl, I want to be a boy? [Do] you believe that the State should intervene there and go along?” Keogan asked in response.
“I’ve given you my answer,” Dr Niall Muldoon said. Earlier in the exchange, the Ombudsman was informed that he did not have to answer Senator Keogan’s questions if he didn’t want to, because it related to his personal beliefs.
“He’s the Ombudsman for children,” Senator Keogan insisted.
“That says it all,” she added. “Thank you, that’s fine.”
The Senator also asked for Dr Muldoon’s views on gender self-identification and consent.
“In your submission to the LGBT+ Inclusion Strategy, your office expressed unequivocal support for gender self-identification laws, including their extension to minors under the age of 16. Has your organisation considered concerns raised regarding such laws – particularly the ability of children and adolescents to give informed consent to significant legal and medical changes?” she asked.
“You also voiced support for what effectively amounts to increased access to so-called “gender-affirming” care for minors. Has your office considered the potential risks and long-term impacts of treatments such as puberty blockers, mastectomies, and hormone replacement therapy – especially given that many clinicians argue that these interventions remain experimental? Furthermore, has the OCO considered the implications of the irreversibility of such treatments for those who later choose to de-transition?”
Senator Keogan brought up the 2022 Cass Review, which found that the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service was not a safe or viable long-term option.
“Yet over a year later, your office released a statement expressing concern about the absence of similar services in Ireland. Has your organisation taken into account the findings of the Cass review and the Tavistock controversy when advocating for the establishment of such services here?”
The Senator noted that between 2009 and 2023 approximately 240 Irish children were referred to Tavistock by the HSE. 182 were aged 15 or younger, while 58 were aged 16 or older. Twice as many girls as boys were referred, and as of early 2023, 72 Irish children remained on the Tavistock waiting lists.
OMBUDSMAN ‘AWARE OF CONCERNS’
The Ombudsman said that he was aware of concerns raised by the head of the National Gender Service, Professor Donal O’Shea, who raised concerns that ideology was directing clinical care.
“Given the growing number of individuals reporting irreversible negative outcomes post-treatment, has your office undertaken – or considered undertaking – a review of the impact of these referrals on Irish children?”
“That’s something we haven’t considered,” Dr Muldoon said. “I would engage with Professor Donal O’Shea on a regular basis around this. As you said, he identified concerns. I would be aware of those concerns, and I would have engaged with him around that.”
“Our point of view is always that children, and the Government have promised to provide appropriate care for all of our children – mental health care, physical care, medical care, and the best possible care. What has happened here is that we have let our children down, who, for whatever reason, are asking questions. We’ve let that down and we haven’t provided that service. We outsourced it with Tavistock. Tavistock has been closed,”
Dr Muldoon continued: “We’ve created a new individual lead and we’re creating a new team now. But throughout that period of time, there’s [been] a range of children – I don’t know what the numbers are – who are constantly asking themselves questions. We don’t have anywhere to bring them, anyone to talk to them, or a multidisciplinary team to work with them.”
“Do you believe actively endorsing a pathway for children questioning their gender, that you’ve actually harmed these vulnerable children [by] leading them down a path that is irreversible? Do you think Ireland should ban puberty blockers for children?” Senator Keogan pressed.
“I don’t believe I’ve actively caused any harm to children. What we’ve always done is promoted a child’s right […]”
In relation to the banning of puberty blockers, Dr Muldoon said: “I won’t be answering that question, because that’s a medical question to be considered, and other people can decide that.”
The meeting also heard that the hiring of security guards to restrain children in State care during violent episodes is ‘horrendous.’
Dr Muldoon was answering a question from Senator Sharon Keogan, who referred to a report, published in the Irish Times today, that Tusla is to begin security guards to restrain children during violent episodes, with the agency to spend about €1m on ‘close protection’ personnel to work with staff in violent situations.
“There’s a report today in the newspaper that security guards will be hired to restrain children in State care during violent episodes. Tusla have confirmed that they are going to be spending €1 million on close protection personnel to work with staff in violent situations,” Senator Keogan said.
“Do you find that worrying?” the Senator asked the Ombudsman.
Responding, the Children’s Ombudsman said: “Of course, absolutely. We’ve said before that it’s a failure of the system if we have to go down this route. […[ These systems are built around relationships, and the trust that comes from working with a good staff to feel secure and attached. If you’ve a big, burly security guard, it sends out the message that we don’t trust you. No matter what we say here or how we’re trying to create an attachment, we’re still worried that you might hurt us.
‘I FIND IT HORRENDOUS’
“So they’re [security] are going to be assigned to other off-site care units as well […] that is really worrying,” Independent Senator Keogan said. “It is hard being a foster parent, having a child who may have violent episodes and may present in your home.
“It is hard being a foster parent, but then to move that child into a residential care setting where they are cared for by individuals who are coming in who have no real link to that child, I find it horrendous to think that this is going to happen – that children would be restrained. It is not the environment – residential care is not the place for a child. It shouldn’t be a place for a child, those homes should not exist. It is not the right care path as far as I am concerned.”
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN STATE CARE
Earlier, the Senator had brought up a 2023 report from University College Dublin which had detailed organised and systemic sexual exploitation of children in State care, including cases of children being trafficked to hotels.
Referring to the lack of “sufficient Garda and Tusla responses,” the Senator asked: “What has your response been to it, and what actions have your Office taken?”
“This is a really urgent issue, and I just want to know what your Office has done to highlight this crisis,” the Senator said, echoing calls for the establishment of a central national review mechanism.
“In regards to the UCD report, I would have had a number of engagements with the researchers,” the Ombudsman said. “And again, from my point of view, in England, probably about ten years ago now, the Children’s Commissioner would have done a similar kind of report and found really serious concerns about children in care [using] the same methodology and the same rationale.
“Similarly in Northern Ireland, that concept of children in care being abused was also identified and uncovered. This did not come as a surprise to me. I think it’s part and parcel, unfortunately, of the way bad actors will look for vulnerable children. We engaged with UCD and gave them whatever assistance we could give them. We also discussed it with the Minister for Children at the time, and asked him to move forward with that and support the UCD researchers with the next phases […] I understand at that stage, there was a discussion about further funding for new research.
“It’s an unfortunate thing that can happen, and it does happen. I can remember one particular case, probably 15 years ago, of a young person in the North West who was the key witness in a number of men being arrested and convicted of rape.
“She was a child in care, and she kept a diary of these men and how they met her, and what they looked like. That was the only time that I remember of a real case being brought forward in that sort of grooming scenario. I do think there’s more that can be done from that point of view, but I haven’t chatted to those researchers now in probably about a year. But I can link in with them now in the future and see where they are,” Dr Muldoon added.
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