Government 'committed' to ending practice of gay conversion therapy

The Gay Health Network said: "Religious organisations offering to ‘pray away’ a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity towards more heteronormative behaviours are operating outside the professional sphere completely."

Minister for Children, Equality Disability Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, said that the Government is committing to ending the practice of conversion therapy. Photo: Gareth Chaney / Collins

Research into legislation on a ban on conversion therapy will be published in 2022, the Children's Minister says.

Conversion therapy refers to any form of treatment proposed to change a person's sexual orientation or to suppress a person's gender identity and a cross-party all-island coalition calling for it to be legally banned launched in April.

Answering a parliamentary question from the Social Democrat TD Gary Gannon, Roderic O'Gorman said that the Government is committing to ending the practice. 

"The Programme for Government contains a commitment to legislate to end the practice of conversion therapy, an objective I strongly support," he said. Mr O'Gorman added that his department had "developed a scoping paper on research into conversion therapy in February 2021".

"This paper comprised a literature overview and a high-level examination of the banning of conversion therapy internationally, along with any evidence in Ireland of conversion therapy practices."

He said that he had also established a sub-committee of the LGBTI+ National Inclusion Strategy Steering Committee to examine the scoping paper and decide the next steps.

"I am pleased to say that my department is now commissioning research to capture the views and experiences of people who have been subjected to the practice of conversion therapy in Ireland. A Request for Quotation issued on 16 November 2021 and it is expected that the research will be commissioned and begin early in 2022. 

This qualitative research will be completed by summer 2022, and will assist the Government in developing legislation to ban the practice of conversion therapy.

He said that he "will work very hard with all involved to ensure that the necessary legislation is enacted".

The Gay Health Network, however, says that it is "gravely concerned at the stalling of progress on this matter", and at the "continued delay by Government on the enactment of the legislation, on the basis that research is needed".

"There remains no clear deadline for the completion of such research. In the meantime, Conversion Therapy practices continue to cause damage to individuals."

Bill Foley, Secretary of Gay Health Network told the Network’s AGM before Christmas that modern forms of conversion therapy appear to largely take the form of talking therapies and spiritual interventions, but said that secular mental health doctors who engaged in the practice were operating outside professional guidelines.

“We believe that secular mental health professionals who are treating clients in this way may be operating outside of their professional guidelines. Religious organisations offering to ‘pray away’ a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity towards more heteronormative behaviours are operating outside the professional sphere completely.

"It's imperative that the government enact legislation without further delay as demanded by all member organisations of GHN’."