Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has held a meeting with doctors from the National Gender Service (NGS), but made no commitments about stopping referrals to the controversial Tavistock clinic for children in the United Kingdom. It is to close soon after a report questioned the safety of what is happening there, including the high use of puberty blockers.

The meeting was held on Tuesday between Mr Donnelly and senior clinicians who have publicly raised concerns about HSE’s use of the clinic and requested that referrals be ended.

Earlier this year, an interim report by Dr Hilary Cass found staff at Tavistock felt “under pressure” to adopt an “unquestioning affirmative approach” to gender that was at odds with standard clinical assessment processes. Dr Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in the UK, had been commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS) to conduct a review of healthcare for gender identity services for children and young people.

Some 238 young people in Ireland were referred to Tavistock between 2011 and 2021, while there were 17 referrals in the first five months of this year. The HSE said 11 children in Ireland are currently on puberty blocker and cross-sex hormones, prescribed by their clinicians in Ireland.