Irish Government is ‘Ignoring’ Risks of Child Transgenderism to Please Activists, Expert Says

DUBLIN, IRELAND - FEBRUARY 15: Members of the public attend a candlelight vigil at the Spi
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The Irish government is “ignoring” medical experts on the risks posed by child transgenderism in the hopes of pleasing activists, a professor involved in the treatment of gender dysphoria has claimed.

Professor Donal O’Shea, a doctor who has worked within Ireland’s National Gender Service, has warned that senior officials within the Irish government are “ignoring” warnings issued by leading medical experts about child transgenderism in the hopes of pleasing progressive activists in the country.

It comes as Ireland looks to further loosen its laws surrounding transgenderism, with the country’s parliament currently debating a bill that will allow children aged 16 and over to change their gender without parental consent.

According to a report by the Daily Mail, O’Shea has attacked the planned reforms, going so far as to accuse one senior minister within the country’s government of “ignoring international medical trends in favour of populist statements”.

“We have reached a point where activists’ agendas have hijacked any level of sense or sensibleness in debates on the topic,” he remarked in an interview with the publication. “Politicians are afraid to say anything which does not go with the activists’ views.”

In another interview, O’Shea described the plan as being “incredibly dangerous“, as it may enable some children to seek surgery in other countries.

“Giving a 16-year-old a cert that will allow them to access surgery in another country is incredibly dangerous,” he told a local radio station. “We know that people do that once they get the cert.”

He went on to accuse pro-transgenderism NGOs of pushing the reforms onto the country’s government, despite there being “no argument” that can “sensibly” be made in favour of the legal changes.

“What’s happened is the activist voice internationally has taken centre stage,” he said. “[They’re] shaping – if not brainwashing – senior management thinking in the [Irish socialised healthcare system] to say an activist view is correct, when it’s not correct.”

“The activists have it that we’re right-wing restrictive, and if the politicians speak – and speak sense – they’re cancelled,” he went on to say.

Despite the medical professor’s intervention, Ireland’s government appears to still be keen on pushing the legal reach of transgenderism in the country even further in the coming months, with private correspondence unveiled by the Irish Independent on Sunday showing senior officials within the coalition administration as promising to expand the ideology’s reach this year.

Writing in response to a number of individuals demanding an expansion of Ireland’s pro-transgenderism legal environment, the office for the country’s Mental Health minister, Mary Butler, promised plans were being drawn up to push transgenderism.

“She has asked me to let you know she will not be found wanting when it comes to support for transgender people, in all aspects of their lives,” a letter penned by the minister’s secretary, Pádraig Kelly, reportedly said regarding her position.

Kelly is also described as claiming that the minister has had “very positive meetings” with Ireland’s children’s minister, Roderic O’Gorman, about the “transgender model of care”, with the secretary saying that the pro-transgenderism advocates writing to Butler can “count on her support for the issues you have raised”.

Butler is also described as meeting with the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) NGO about transgenderism in Ireland.

TENI has frequently been in and out of the Irish press over wide-ranging financial irregularities, with the non-profit having some of its state funding stripped once again late last year after it failed to file its annual financial report on time.

This marks the fourth year in a row that the organisation has failed to file its report on time, though this does not appear to have prevented the Irish state from handing the pro-transgenderism organisation hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding over the last number of years.

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