Rise in referrals of children to UK over gender identity

Eighty-three Irish children have been sent to England in the past six years to be psychologically assessed for confusion over their gender identity.

Since 2010, boys and girls from Ireland have been referred to a specialist NHS clinic in London which treats transgender children, but in the last two years, there has been a sharp increase in referrals of children feeling unhappy about their biological sex.

The children, who range from the age of eight to 17, are initially psychologically assessed in the Tavistock Clinic in the UK while treatment, which can involve puberty blockers, is mainly carried out in the Crumlin Hospital in Dublin.