'Very much a success': First Trans+ Pride event takes place in Cork city 

An organiser of Cork’s first Trans+ Pride event has hailed “the great turnout” of people on the day, making it a successful first event of its kind in the city.

Organiser Saoirse Mackin said that there were over 200 people in attendance on Saturday which they were “very happy” with.

There was representation from various organisations and political parties including Dublin Trans Pride, Cork Pride, the Social Democrats, the Green Party, Rosa, Gender Rebels, among others.

“Overall, it was very much a success and we managed to get the whole point of it across which is that we are calling for better access to healthcare in Ireland for trans people.

“At the moment, waiting lists for just an initial consultation for endocrinology is upwards of five or more years.

“It’s crazy and the problem really is that kind of thing is ultimately going to cost lives because there are people who can’t wait five years for endocrinology and it’s very sad.

“One of the biggest issues that we have at the moment is that through the public service there are only two endocrinologists in Ireland who are currently dealing with trans people and both of those are based in the Dublin area.” 

She said that while there are private endocrinologists which are quite expensive, there are none available through the public system in the west or south of the country.

“That’s a real problem. It would be great, for example, to have one in Cork, one in Galway and maybe one in Limerick and we’d have at least the main areas of the country covered.

Calls for hate crime legislation 

“On top of that, we’re also calling for hate crime legislation which is really important.

“A few years ago the Irish Council for Civil Liberties brought out a report showing that Ireland has one of the highest levels of hate crime towards trans people in the EU so that’s something that we want to really tackle.” 

Organisers are also calling for a ban on conversion therapy, and for any introduction of a ban on conversion therapy to include trans people.

She said that the gathering was organised “at the last minute” after Covid put a stop to original plans to hold the event in 2020 and 2021. She and other organisers were motivated in part by recent coverage of trans issues in the media. 

“We’re still trying to debate the lives of trans people which is not right," she said. 

"We’re here, we exist and we’re not up for debate on radio or in newspapers." 

Speaking to The Echo, member of the Social Democrats and LGBT community organiser, Pádraig Rice, said: “Today is an important day for Cork’s transgender community.

“It was great to see support for the Pride event from other parts of the LGBTQ+ community as well as from politicians and political parties.

“It's important that we all work together to improve the life outcomes for the entire trans+ community - because all too often trans people are marginalised and excluded. This has to end."

Green Party councillor Colette Finn said she was “pleased” to attend Trans Pride in Cork and described the great turnout as “heartening”.