Labour Party Councillor Colm Keaveney, from Tuam in Co. Galway has caused anger by calling for funding of medical treatments for transgender people to be cut.
Criticising the lack of funding for childrens health services, Keaveney said funding for gender reassignment treatment could be cut as it shouldnt be a priority as he feels transgender people dont contribute as much to society.
Keaveney said that "when allocating scarce resources the HSE must establish what actually delivers best value for society".
Responding to Keaveneys comments, Nuala Ward, Chairperson of AMACH! (umbrella group for the LGBT community in Galway), said that "comparing individual cases is unhelpful and promotes inequality.
"Taking vital services from any individual in our health care system will not deliver positive results for our society".
What we need is more funding for all areas of the health service. We shouldn't be picking and choosing which services to be cut. Ireland already has one of the lowest spending levels on healthcare in Europe. Instead of protecting vital health services however the government is more interested in protecting bankers and big business.
A moral test of government is how it treats the most vulnerable in society, and both children and transgender people fall into this category.
Keaveny shouldn't be pitting them against each other, but working to improve health service for all.