The Labour Party has called for improvements in trans healthcare and gender affirming care in Ireland.
It said that gender affirming care should be provided in primary care settings with a focus on GP-led care.
The party has introduced a motion in the Dáil calling for the enactment of a new National Clinical Programme for trans healthcare in Ireland, with integrated care pathways.
Speaking on the motion, Labour TD Marie Sherlock said it was ten years since the passage of the Gender Recognition Act.
She said that young vulnerable trans people should be afforded compassionate, appropriate and timely healthcare.
"Vulnerable young people are being forced to wait four and a half years before they can even get an initial appointment with the national gender service. That is a lifetime to a young vulnerable person who desperately needs support," Ms Sherlock said.
She said that 30% were self-medicating with medicines bought on the black market with no proper GP or clinical monitoring bringing risks.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill said that demand for gender affirming healthcare had risen significantly.
She said she accepted that the current public services are not fully meeting people's needs and she said that she recognised the need to establish for appropriate and comprehensive services.
She added that the HSE has established a new national clinical programme for gender healthcare to develop an updated clinical model of care.
The Minister also pointed to a Programme for Government commitment to ban conversion services and the Department of Children was working on that aim.
