Paul Murphy: Calls out Ireland's 'broken' trans healthcare system
Paul Murphy, speaking for People Before Profit, supported a Labour Party motion on transgender healthcare and condemned Ireland's current system as failing trans people. He criticised the self-styled National Gender Service in St Column Kills Hospital in Lachlanstown, highlighted decade-long waitlists and invasive assessment practices, and urged an informed-consent, primary care model similar to Catalonia's.
He thanked the Labour Party for bringing the motion forward and confirmed that People Before Profit would support it. He praised the activism of groups including Transgress, Trans Healthcare Action and Tenny for pushing for rights and decent healthcare for trans people.
He described Ireland as having one adult gender clinic - the self-appointed National Gender Service based in St Column Kills Hospital in Lachlanstown - which he said is not approved by the HSE or the Department of Health and sits inside the Ireland East Hospital Group. He said the clinic calls itself national despite limited reach, with waitlists over 10 years long and seeing fewer than 160 people a year.
Murphy characterised the clinic's assessment process as dehumanising and humiliating, citing inappropriate, invasive and sexualised questions asked of people seeking surgery. He said some people have been denied gender-affirming care because of diagnoses such as ADHD or autism or for not answering those questions in a way the clinic deemed acceptable, and referenced a published interview highlighted by Transgress.
He argued for an informed, consent-based transgender healthcare model led by GPs and nursing staff in primary care. He pointed to Catalonia's model, in use since 2012, noting a 36-day waiting list and 71% of adults receiving HRT at the first appointment as a contrast to Ireland's decade-long waits.
Murphy warned that the government is no guaranteed friend of trans people and that marginalised groups can be dropped; he framed the fight for trans healthcare as part of a broader struggle for a national health service that provides quality care for everyone. He dismissed claims that investing in trans healthcare is a waste of resources and urged continued activism and reform.
Support for the motion and grassroots activism
He thanked the Labour Party for bringing the motion forward and confirmed that People Before Profit would support it. He praised the activism of groups including Transgress, Trans Healthcare Action and Tenny for pushing for rights and decent healthcare for trans people.
Critique of the National Gender Service
He described Ireland as having one adult gender clinic - the self-appointed National Gender Service based in St Column Kills Hospital in Lachlanstown - which he said is not approved by the HSE or the Department of Health and sits inside the Ireland East Hospital Group. He said the clinic calls itself national despite limited reach, with waitlists over 10 years long and seeing fewer than 160 people a year.
Patient experiences and invasive assessments
Murphy characterised the clinic's assessment process as dehumanising and humiliating, citing inappropriate, invasive and sexualised questions asked of people seeking surgery. He said some people have been denied gender-affirming care because of diagnoses such as ADHD or autism or for not answering those questions in a way the clinic deemed acceptable, and referenced a published interview highlighted by Transgress.
Call for an informed-consent primary care model
He argued for an informed, consent-based transgender healthcare model led by GPs and nursing staff in primary care. He pointed to Catalonia's model, in use since 2012, noting a 36-day waiting list and 71% of adults receiving HRT at the first appointment as a contrast to Ireland's decade-long waits.
Government responsibility and wider healthcare implications
Murphy warned that the government is no guaranteed friend of trans people and that marginalised groups can be dropped; he framed the fight for trans healthcare as part of a broader struggle for a national health service that provides quality care for everyone. He dismissed claims that investing in trans healthcare is a waste of resources and urged continued activism and reform.
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Transcript
Firstly, thanks a lot to the Labour Party for bringing forward this important motion. We, in People Before Profit, will be supporting it. Also thanks to the tireless activism of many trans activists, those in Transgress, in Trans Healthcare Action, in Tenny, who are pushing for rights to mean something, who are pushing for decent healthcare in this country for trans people. I saw over the weekend a TD who wanted the public to pay for a 1,000 euro Lazy Boy chair for him, suggesting that investing in trans healthcare is a waste of resources. If investing in healthcare isn't a good use of resources, I don't know what is. Perhaps we'll just get Lazy Boy chairs instead of healthcare. It should be clear to anyone paying attention that this government is no friend or certainly no guaranteed friend of trans people. You can see the dog whistling that is going on in terms of migrants, asylum seekers in particular. And any marginalised group may be dropped. The formerly progressive face of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, may be abandoned. It is why the activism from below, pushing for rights to mean something, pushing for decent healthcare is so important. To understand that an injury to one is an injury to all. When fighting for trans healthcare, we are fighting for decent healthcare for everybody in this country. We are fighting for a national health service that provides quality healthcare for everybody, regardless of their particular needs within a public health service. The truth is that Ireland is failing, is failing badly. We are the worst country in the European Union for availability and accessibility of transgender healthcare. We have one gender clinic offering transgender healthcare to adults in Ireland, and that is the self-appointed National Gender Service based in St Column Kills Hospital in Lachlanstown. It has waitlists over 10 years long and it sees less than 160 people a year. The NGS and its model of care were not approved by the HSE or the Department of Health. The National Gender Service name was chosen by themselves. They are a clinic within the Ireland East Hospital Group, not a national clinic. It is no surprise that there was no trans involvement, no trans voices involved in the creation of the NGS. And those who are running the service do trans people a disservice, lobbying against any reform of this broken system that treats trans healthcare as something to be restricted and pathological recognised. The truth is that in this clinic, transgender people must ungo a dehumanising and humiliating assessment process. They are asked inappropriate and invasive questions which have very little to do with gender identity or medical transition. In some instances, trans people have been denied important gender-affirming healthcare if they have been diagnosed with ADHD, autism or for not answering inappropriate and sexualised questions in a way deemed correct by the clinic. Yesterday, Transgress put online the interview, which I had heard about the existence of this interview but hadn't heard it up until then. It is shocking in terms of how invasive and inappropriate the questions are being asked. They are not something that should be happening in a proper national gender service. I quote some of the questions that were asked to someone seeking bottom surgery. Can I ask you a bit about your mental illness? When was the most serious episode of mental illness that you had? Were you drinking at the time? What type of drink do you like? On Tinder, what was your profile then? Were you experiencing a lot of erections? What else did you experience in terms of sex toys? Can you describe what it is about your penis balls you notice or don't like? Are you happy receiving as well as giving? Are you capable of receiving an orgasm? Would you use a strap-on or sex toys? This is not the type of approach that we should have. We should have an informed, consent-based, transgender healthcare model led by GPs and nursing staff in primary care. We should look at the model of Catalonia, which has an informed consent model in primary care that has been successful in use since 2012. A 36-day waiting list, 71% of adults receive HRT on the first appointment, compared to the decade-long waiting list that trans people face in Ireland. Where did you describe to the model? How does that mean? How does that mean this one? If you think you're interested in? I really want to say, let me know. If you look at the model of Adolfo, you can really talk about how do you do? What do I have to say? You can't examine the model of this. You can see the model that has to be done. Hey, you can see this model of my family. I put over here.