These annual statements are important. It had to be called out when they were not tabled in June last year. However, they also have to be real. We saw remarkable progress in 2015 with the same-sex marriage referendum passing after a grassroots movement. This was followed by repeal, the Gender Recognition Act and huge social progress. However, this is a completely different decade. Hostility, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny and racism are being unleashed. Within Ireland, while the Government is not doing that or anything like it, certainly not openly, progress has stalled. Promises the Government made in terms of non-binary recognition under the Gender Recognition Act, which were part of the programme for Government, still have not been fulfilled. I hope the Government and other Opposition parties will get behind my Bill to recognise non-binary and intersex people. Non-binary people are recognised in 17 other countries. Intersex people are also recognised in other countries. I will talk about trans healthcare. As has already been said, we have the worst trans healthcare in Europe. It has got worse even since last year's debate. A UCD report found a 13% increase in discrimination against LGBT+ people and an increase in the waiting lists. Some 23% of trans people report spending over €2,000 on healthcare because of the Government's failure. We do not have an informed consent model but a gatekeeping model. In the North, the Executive signed off on a ban on puberty blockers for teenage trans people, leading to a ban on all Assembly parties in eight Pride parades in the North this year. While there has been progress, we can clearly see that the influence of the far right and the anti-LGBT lobby is also having an impact. Belong To has talked about the experiences of young people. I do not have time to go into all of the details but rates of depression, suicidal ideation and so on are all much higher. We should be very clear. We need to correct some of the myths that are put out there. No surgery is done on young people in this country, with the exception of surgery carried out on intersex babies as the result of a push for a strong binary in our society. We need to turn these statements into action. We need to continue to support the LGBT+ community. We need to challenge the scapegoating of trans people. We need to stand rock solid against that and against the scapegoating of other minorities.

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