The rights and needs of transsexual people are yet another set of issues that many Irish people simply hope would just go away. We do not even acknowledge under law the rights of transsexual people to have their new gender recognised. Ireland, Albania, Andorra and the UK are far behind the rest of Europe in refusing to recognise such gender change. However, a recent ruling from the European Court of Human Rights has found that UK law violates the rights of transsexual people with regard to legal recognition of their new gender. Given our poor track record in Ireland on socially progressive legislation it is likely that we will be forced to legislate on this area under pressure from Europe. I have addressed the substance of your question, with regard to medical services for transsexual people, in a previous Ask the Doctor question. You can access that answer at: http://www.irishhealth.com/askdoc03.html?f_qid=2312.