Stormont's Education Committee has blocked DUP MLAs who wanted it to report advice being given to parents on how to illegally acquire puberty blockers for children.

The incident occurred today during an inquiry into provision of relationship and sex education in Northern Ireland.

It emerged during the hearing that the Rainbow Project website is signposting parents of trans children to an external website which advises them how to bypass normal prescription channels to acquire puberty blockers.

The DUP argued that such actions are illegal and should be reported to the authorities.

However Alliance and Sinn Fein MLAs declined to engage and said it was up to the DUP to report it.

The issue emerged when DUP MLA Peter Martin questioned Rainbow Project representative Alexa Moore.

The MLA referred to the 2020 Cass Report - commissioned by the NHS - which led to a ban on puberty blockers being given to children under 18 in the UK

He said the Rainbow Project website referred parents of trans children to the external GenderGP website for "private care" which in turn had a section 'What to do if your child's puberty blockers are running out?'

placeholder image — Education Committee Deputy Chairman Pat Sheehan said the committee did not wish to see the information about how to acquire puberty blockers for children.

The MLA noted that GenderGP advised parents who were running out of puberty blockers for their children to seek supplies from abroad or get the prescription created "in the name of someone who's over 18".

Alexa replied that the Rainbow project "don't necessarily have a view on Gender GP" adding: "The reality is that whenever supportive parents are pushed into a corner they're going to do what is best for their child. It's unfortunate, they have been pushed into that corner."

Mr Martin replied that creating scripts in the name of someone else was "illegal".

At this point Alliance MLA and committee Chair Nick Mathison stepped in, advising Alexa that Mr Martin was moving outside the issue of RSE and advising Alexa that there was no need to respond to the DUP MLA’s question.

Mr Mathison advised Alexa that time was short, pressing Alexa to only "answer briefly" and also advising that "we've definitely widened out beyond the terms of reference of the RSE inquiry".

He added: "I think it's entirely up to Alexa whether you want to cover that issue in particular, because that's a health matter, it is not within our statutory terms of reference."

However Alexa was keen to respond: “To bring it back to RSE, this is the kind of discussion that should be happening. There are some transgender young people who maybe have questions on what medical transition entails but have no one to ask those questions of and nowhere to get that kind of unbiased information from.”

DUP MLA David Brooks made clear his party was not accusing the Rainbow Project of wrongdoing, but he urged the committee to take action.

As a former employee of the General Medical Council (GMC), he said, the GenderGP advice appeared to be "fraudulently prescribing".

He added that the issue was "how minors can get access to controlled substances through fraudulent means. That's a very serious issue – it's illegal."

He recommended that the committee report the matter to the Health Committee, the Department of Health, the GMC and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland.

However Alliance MLA Michelle Guy objected that the matter was "a strange segue from a discussion on RSE, and is indicative of how RSE conversations are hijacked generally" adding that it had “nothing to do with the committee”.

Mr Mathison then referred the issue to the Deputy Chair, Sinn Fein MLA Pat Sheehan.

He replied: "I haven't seen it, and I wouldn't want to take any action without first seeing it. And given that you're suggesting there's something illegal there, I think the responsibility is on you, Peter, to bring the attention of whatever authorities you think should be informed about it. I don't think it's a matter for the committee, given that we have no knowledge of it."

Mr Mathison agreed.

"I am very clear I haven't seen the material you're referring to so I would certainly be reluctant to [report it] without having seen it,” he said.

He repeatedly said that such a course of action would be "stepping out of the education remit".

Mr Martin offered to share the information with the committee to discuss it next week.

However Mr Sheehan and his party colleague Danny Baker refused, with the latter saying it was up to the DUP MLA to report the concerns himself.

Mr Baker said: "I don't agree: I don't see why it has to come back to us to make a decision on it at all. If you really want to raise that, you should go and raise it as an MLA with whatever body that you think needs to hear.”

Mr Martin then agreed to take action personally.

:: The full hearing can be viewed from 56 minutes onward on Youtube here.