Transgress the NGS invites everyone to attend a protest calling for a better system of trans healthcare in Ireland on May 22, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Marriage Equality referendum. Here, they explain in depth the reasons why we need to protest.

Since the last sit-in at the offices of the Department of Health organised by Transgress the NGS in November 2024, the country has a new government and new Minister of Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, but sadly there have been no signs of improvements in trans healthcare.

Instead, the government has watered down its commitments to reforming the trans healthcare system by removing any reference to meeting international best practice standards, as represented by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) guidance, from the new Programme for Government.

Earlier in the year, Transgress the NGS contacted the Minister of Health’s office asking for a meeting but received a response reiterating that provided by Stephen Donnelly last year. The response stated that the government is committed to developing a new clinical programme for trans healthcare “in a consultative way”, but that the Minister is still unwilling to meet with Transgress the NGS or any other representative trans community organisations.

This is particularly shameful given that Carroll MacNeill touts her record as an ally of the trans community, with her letter to Transgress the NGS earlier in the year stating that “access to appropriate healthcare for trans people is something the Minister worked on previously when she was Spokesperson for Equality in 2020”.

 

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This is not acceptable. To show that the trans community will not tolerate being silenced in this way, Transgress the NGS is holding a picket of the Department of Health on May 22 – the ten-year anniversary of the passing of the Marriage Equality referendum in Ireland.

The Marriage Equality referendum supposedly signalled a more tolerant and supportive environment for LGBTQ+ people in Ireland – but this has proved to be false in many respects.

The state’s superficial acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community contrasts starkly with the dire situation for trans people trying to access basic healthcare in this country as well as the government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza where Palestinians, both straight and queer, are being starved and slaughtered in vast numbers.

As a community, we also know our struggles as trans people in Ireland are deeply connected with those of other oppressed groups and progressive causes, such as those against genocide and the erosion of neutrality. The influence of reactionary, transphobic political climate in the UK and US is also clearly evident in Ireland, with obvious signs that the new programme for trans healthcare in Ireland will draw on the biased and widely discredited Cass Review.

The crises in housing, healthcare and other services are also creating a climate of frustration and anger and leading to the increasing vulnerability of trans people and migrants who are being blamed by the far-right for social problems created by the government.

For all these reasons, Transgress the NGS invites all groups and individuals who are concerned with these issues and/or affected by the crisis in our trans healthcare system to stand in solidarity and attend the protest on May 22.