One of the main psychiatrists at the National Gender Service has said that, at the moment, there are no services here for children with gender dysphoria, other than getting help from the local community mental health teams.
Dr Paul Moran said a trial is needed first to establish the effectiveness and safety of puberty blockers and what is best practice for the care of children.
Yesterday the UK government announced that puberty blockers for those under 18 years of age with gender dysphoria will be banned indefinitely, except for use in clinical trials.
It follows independent expert advice which stated that there is currently an unacceptable safety risk.
Dr Moran said there is a National Clinical Lead to develop a model of care which is in progress.
Health authorities here said there are fewer than ten children on these medicines.
Puberty blockers turn off the hormones in the brain that start physical changes, like facial hair or breast development.
Dr Moran said that like any medical treatment - before it is rolled out widely - must have its benefit and risks evaluated and that did not happen.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
He said there had been a small trial in the Netherlands which had no randomised control group, and following that, puberty blockers were used all around the world for thousands of children.
Dr Moran said that what was discovered was the hoped for benefit, but that did not seem to be happening. Governments reviewed this and said they need to proceed safely.
He added that the Cass Review published in the UK showed that there is no evidence clearly for benefit from puberty blockers and the evidence for harm is unclear.
He said it recommended that further research should be done before these are prescribed routinely for children.
The National Gender Service is a public service provided by the HSE and St John of God Services and based at St Columcille's Hospital in Dublin.
Irish children were being referred for assessment and treatment at the Tavistock Clinic in the UK, however the service closed after an independent review.
Some children have been referred outside of Ireland for a range of issues including gender dysphoria, including to a clinic in Antwerp in Belgium.
The HSE said a new clinical programme for gender healthcare is being initiated.
It will consider emerging and evolving international evidence, including evidence on the use of puberty blockers.
The HSE said proposed changes from the UK Department of Health and Social Care, just published, will be reviewed as part of this work.
It said that over the next two years, the new clinical programme will develop an updated clinical model of care for gender healthcare services for the Irish population.
The HSE said that a clinical lead has been appointed and it is awaiting the appointment of the other members of the clinical gender healthcare programme team.
The organisation Belong To said it was deeply concerned by the decision to impose an indefinite ban on medical professionals prescribing puberty blockers in consultation with young people and their families in the UK and the impact this will have on those families who need this vital healthcare.
It said that in Ireland, for young trans people and their families, accessing healthcare is like knocking on a closed door.
It said that currently there is no healthcare service at all for young trans people.
Separately, Trans Healthcare Action said it was unfortunate that the UK had chosen to ignore the international medical consensus and the trans community in deciding to pass an anti-trans law.
It said this bans trans people - and only trans people - from using medications that have been safely used since the 1970s.
The organisation said it was politicians making decisions for patients, families, and doctors.
It has called on the HSE to start working with the trans community to develop services in line with international best practice, in primary care based on informed consent and following models used successfully in countries across the world.
