Senator Ronan Mullen has raised concerns that a Council of Europe (CoE) report on banning so-called ‘conversion practices’ is being used to advance contested gender-affirmation policies across healthcare, education and religious settings.
Writing in The Irish Catholic, Senator Mullen criticised the report ‘Towards a Ban on Conversion Practices’, authored by British Labour MP Kate Osborne, which has been approved by the Parliamentary Assembly’s Equality Committee and brought before the Council of Europe’s plenary session this week.
Senator Mullen said opposition to abusive forms of ‘conversion therapy’, particularly coercive and unethical attempts to change same-sex attraction, is widely shared by people of goodwill, including Christians. However, he argues that the report exploits this moral consensus to introduce a far broader ideological agenda.
According to the senator, the report defines ‘conversion practices’ so expansively that it includes counselling, psychological support or pastoral guidance aimed at helping children with gender dysphoria to reconcile with their biological sex. He says such approaches are wrongly placed in the same category as historic abuses such as electric shock therapy and
forced medication.
The report describes its proposals as a ‘public health imperative’ and calls for criminal sanctions and regulation across healthcare, education, religious and commercial settings. Senator Mullen warned that this could expose parents, teachers, clergy and healthcare professionals to legal penalties simply for opposing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or irreversible surgical interventions for minors.
Senator Mullen said such medical interventions disregard the dignity of the human person and ignore evidence that the majority of children experiencing gender confusion eventually grow out of it. He also cited concerns about long-term harm associated with medical transition, referencing Irish journalist Helen Joyce’s 2021 book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality.
While Council of Europe recommendations are not legally binding on member states, including Ireland, Senator Mullen warned that the institution’s moral and political influence remains significant.
He said he has tabled amendments with other European parliamentarians to restore a narrow definition of conversion therapy focused on genuine abuse, while safeguarding parental authority, professional judgment and freedom of religion.
