Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As Senator Crown noted, the issue of enlightenment arises in respect of vaccines and a full and open debate is needed on the issue. For the record, I have three children, all of whom have been vaccinated with all of the relevant vaccines. While I have no hesitation in having my children vaccinated, parents need to be given all of the information to allow them to weigh up the decision on vaccination. An issue arose recently in respect of a parent of a child who had an adverse reaction to the second administration of a particular vaccination. The child's general practitioner refused to administer the third dose and chose instead to refer the child to a specialist before a decision is made on the issue. The position is changing in this country regarding vaccines.

One of the reasons we invited departmental officials before the joint committee was to receive an update on what has been done since the committee reported on this issue in 2001. Its report stated that "in the light of the huge benefits of immunisation and the small number of children who experience serious adverse reactions a no-fault compensation scheme should be introduced in Ireland". Ireland is the only country in Europe that has not introduced such a compensation scheme. Most countries have had such a scheme in place for years, yet nothing has been done over the past 11 years to implement the joint committee's recommendation in this regard. In the United Kingdom, the maximum possible payment under a compensation scheme is £120,000 and the average payment is £3,800.

Anyway, there is a scheme in place and there is public acknowledgement that some children are damaged by vaccines. The reality is that the risks of having a vaccination programme rolled out are far less than the great benefit to children and to society as a whole. However, some acknowledgement must be given to this.

Previously, the committee made a recommendation to the effect that there should be a link developed between the birth registers in the country in order that the information technology system in place could trace children. At the moment there are four separate information technology systems with eight implementations throughout each of the former health boards. When will we get our act together and have one information technology system for a vaccination programme? When will we have a system in place whereby we can have traceability through the children's allowance system to know where children are or where they have slipped through the loop? Such traceability is not in place at the moment and it is undermining our vaccination programmes as a result.