Email to TDs ahead of vote on Labour Party motion regarding trans healthcare, 3rd December 2025

Background:

On Wednesday 3rd of December TDs will vote on a private members’ motion brought forward by the Labour Party calling for an informed consent model of trans healthcare in Ireland. We are asking all supporters to email TDs calling for them to vote in favour of this motion. You can use the list of email addresses and email template below or, even better, personalise the email to reflect your own experiences.

Email addresses:

ciaran.ahern@oireachtas.ie, william.aird@oireachtas.ie, catherine.ardagh@oireachtas.ie, ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie, cathy.bennett@oireachtas.ie, grace.boland@oireachtas.ie, richard.boydbarrett@oireachtas.ie, tom.brabazon@oireachtas.ie, John.brady@oireachtas.ie, brian.brennan@oireachtas.ie, shay.brennan@oireachtas.ie, colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie, james.browne@oireachtas.ie, pat.buckley@oireachtas.ie, colm.burke@oireachtas.ie, peter.burke@oireachtas.ie, mary.butler@oireachtas.ie, paula.butterly@oireachtas.ie, jerry.buttimer@oireachtas.ie, joanna.byrne@oireachtas.ie, malcolm.byrne@oireachtas.ie, thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie, michael.cahill@oireachtas.ie, holly.cairns@oireachtas.ie, catherine.callaghan@oireachtas.ie, dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie, sean.canney@oireachtas.ie, micheal.carrigy@oireachtas.ie, jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie, matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie, jack.chambers@oireachtas.ie, sorca.clarke@oireachtas.ie, peterchap.cleere@oireachtas.ie, john.clendennen@oireachtas.ie, michael.collins@oireachtas.ie, niall.collins@oireachtas.ie, catherine.connolly@oireachtas.ie, john.connolly@oireachtas.ie, rose.conwaywalsh@oireachtas.ie, joe.cooney@oireachtas.ie, ruth.coppinger@oireachtas.ie, reada.cronin@oireachtas.ie, cathal.crowe@oireachtas.ie, sean.crowe@oireachtas.ie, david.cullinane@oireachtas.ie, jen.cummins@oireachtas.ie, john.cummins@oireachtas.ie, emer.currie@oireachtas.ie, martin.daly@oireachtas.ie, pa.daly@oireachtas.ie, aisling.dempsey@oireachtas.ie, maire.devine@oireachtas.ie, cormac.devlin@oireachtas.ie, alan.dillon@oireachtas.ie, pearse.doherty@oireachtas.ie, albert.dolan@oireachtas.ie, paul.donnelly@oireachtas.ie, paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie, timmy.dooley@oireachtas.ie, dessie.ellis@oireachtas.ie, mairead.farrell@oireachtas.ie, aidan.farrelly@oireachtas.ie, frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie, michael.fitzmaurice@oireachtas.ie, sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie, norma.foley@oireachtas.ie, patthecope.gallagher@oireachtas.ie, gary.gannon@oireachtas.ie, james.geoghegan@oireachtas.ie, sinead.gibney@oireachtas.ie, paul.gogarty@oireachtas.ie, thomas.gould@oireachtas.ie, ann.graves@oireachtas.ie, noel.grealish@oireachtas.ie, johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie, marian.harkin@oireachtas.ie, simon.harris@oireachtas.ie, eoin.hayes@oireachtas.ie, seamus.healy@oireachtas.ie, danny.healyrae@oireachtas.ie, michael.healyrae@oireachtas.ie, rory.hearne@oireachtas.ie, barry.heneghan@oireachtas.ie, martin.heydon@oireachtas.ie, emer.higgins@oireachtas.ie, alan.kelly@oireachtas.ie, eoghan.kenny@oireachtas.ie, martin.kenny@oireachtas.ie, keira.keogh@oireachtas.ie, claire.kerrane@oireachtas.ie, john.lahart@oireachtas.ie, james.lawless@oireachtas.ie, paul.lawless@oireachtas.ie, george.lawlor@oireachtas.ie, michael.lowry@oireachtas.ie, padraig.maclochlainn@oireachtas.ie, micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie, david.maxwell@oireachtas.ie, paul.mcauliffe@oireachtas.ie, noel.mccarthy@oireachtas.ie, charlie.mcconalogue@oireachtas.ie, tony.mccormack@oireachtas.ie, marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie, helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie, donna.mcgettigan@oireachtas.ie, mattie.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie, seamus.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie, erin.mcgreehan@oireachtas.ie, conor.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie, john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie, denise.mitchell@oireachtas.ie, kevinboxer.moran@oireachtas.ie, aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie, michael.moynihan@oireachtas.ie, shane.moynihan@oireachtas.ie, jennifer.murnaneoconnor@oireachtas.ie, michael.murphy@oireachtas.ie, paul.murphy@oireachtas.ie, verona.murphy@oireachtas.ie, johnny.mythen@oireachtas.ie, gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie, hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie, joe.neville@oireachtas.ie, natasha.newsomedrennan@oireachtas.ie, carol.nolan@oireachtas.ie, shonagh.niraghallaigh@oireachtas.ie, darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie, cian.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie, jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie, maeve.oconnell@oireachtas.ie, james.oconnor@oireachtas.ie, willie.odea@oireachtas.ie, kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie, richard.odonoghue@oireachtas.ie, robert.odonoghue@oireachtas.ie, patrick.odonovan@oireachtas.ie, ken.oflynn@oireachtas.ie, roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie, louis.ohara@oireachtas.ie, ryan.omeara@oireachtas.ie, louise.oreilly@oireachtas.ie, darren.orourke@oireachtas.ie, johnpaul.oshea@oireachtas.ie, christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie, padraig.osullivan@oireachtas.ie, liam.quaide@oireachtas.ie, maurice.quinlivan@oireachtas.ie, padraig.rice@oireachtas.ie, neale.richmond@oireachtas.ie, peter.roche@oireachtas.ie, eamon.scanlon@oireachtas.ie, conor.sheehan@oireachtas.ie, marie.sherlock@oireachtas.ie, brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie, duncan.smith@oireachtas.ie, niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie, brian.stanley@oireachtas.ie, edward.timmins@oireachtas.ie, gillian.toole@oireachtas.ie, robert.troy@oireachtas.ie, peadar.toibin@oireachtas.ie, mark.wall@oireachtas.ie, barry.ward@oireachtas.ie, charles.ward@oireachtas.ie, mark.ward@oireachtas.ie, jennifer.whitmore@oireachtas.ie, eoin.obroin@oireachtas.ie, naoise.ocearuil@oireachtas.ie, sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie, donnchadh.olaoghaire@oireachtas.ie, naoise.omuiri@oireachtas.ie, ruairi.omurchu@oireachtas.ie, aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie, fionntan.osuilleabhain@oireachtas.ie

Subject line: Vote on Labour Party motion on trans healthcare, 3rd Dec 2025

Email text:

A chara,

I am writing to urge you to support the Labour Party motion before the Dáil this coming Wednesday on trans rights.

10 years on from the Gender Recognition Act, precious little progress has been made on trans healthcare. Trans healthcare in Ireland is consistently ranked as the worst in Europe, and is not in line with the guidelines or internationally recognized best practices as per WPATH or WHO. This is a direct result of the only public clinic providing gender-affirming care, the National Gender Service, following an outdated and deeply inappropriate model of care that is years behind the international standard, and leaves over 2000 people on a waiting list for healthcare for years at a time.

The motion calls for urgently necessary changes to trans healthcare in Ireland, implementing an informed consent model in line with the international standard of care, and ensuring the development of a New Clinical Programme in consultation with trans people to replace the National Gender Service.

Stories of trans individuals consistently highlight the harmful practices of the National Gender Service, which operates under the auspices of St. John of God's mental health services and involves psychological evaluations of transgender people which are invasive, insensitive, and discriminatory. Consensus in the medical profession has moved on significantly in the past 50 years, but the National Gender Service has not.

In an article published by The Journal in April of 2025, adult transgender patients detailed their experiences with the National Gender Service, corroborating the ordeals countless trans people seeking care have faced; they consistently experienced excessive wait times, and reported interrogatory evaluations which included inappropriate and distressing questions unrelated to the care being requested. Some patients were denied care on the basis of their employment status, lack of support from their families, or not publicly presenting a certain way prior to receiving hormones. Patients also reported having appointments cut short because they were not comfortable answering questions about the details of their intimate lives or partners, or what pornography they watch. These interrogations by clinicians of the NGS violate the privacy and autonomy of trans patients, and are unacceptable.

Additionally, NGS clinicians have repeatedly demonstrated bias in their practices, in media interviews, and in their unwillingness to engage with the trans community. At a meeting in St. Colmcille's Hospital on the 27th of November last, psychiatrist Dr. Paul Moran was approached by 2 members of the trans community and presented with an open letter drafted by Transgress the NGS, a grassroots group campaigning for access to trans healthcare. Dr. Moran refused to acknowledge their presence whatsoever, or take the letter, instead telling hospital security staff that he was being harassed and having them removed without ever looking them in the eye. Clinicians who cannot treat trans people with basic decency, or engage at all with what they have to say about their own healthcare, cannot be trusted to provide them with adequate healthcare.

In spite of the existence of clear WHO guidelines, the HSE and Department of Health have begun a process to develop a wholly new model of care. Given the practices of the NGS, it is unacceptable to the trans community that NGS clinicians are centrally involved in this process. The NGS has a record of denying care to patients who have publicly criticised their approach. Thus their involvement has a chilling effect on trans people, not only because of their harmful and ineffective practices, but because of the simple fact that their participation prohibits trans people from being able to share our thoughts about existing services or proposed changes without risking what little access we have to healthcare. If criticism of the National Gender Service could be met with retaliation, it limits the trans community's ability to safely speak up about issues that affect us and our own health.

Change is urgently needed. Your vote in favour of this motion will send a message to Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill that she must urgently intervene to dismantle the National Gender Service and provide gender-affirming care at a primary care level on the basis of informed consent, protecting the rights and autonomy of trans people in Ireland.

Mise le meas,