John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to witness a masterclass and it is great to have people putting issues together succinctly. I appreciate that very much. I have a particular instinct or background that I wish to bring to this. The issue of confidence, language and how we promote this are important. Professor Butler made the final opening statement and it could be described as coming from a parent or grandparent who is also a doctor and very much involved with the issue. It struck me as an approach to better communication. The parents who are concerned about this want to do the right thing. There has been mention of social media and local broadcasts.

I was diagnosed with a condition called infantile paralysis and a little while later they figured out it was polio. I remember reading afterwards that they connected this with kids drinking Coke because they became paralysed afterwards. They concluded that drinking Coke or soft drinks caused the condition. There are always people making such connections.

I have seen here in Ireland young people with polio, thankfully not people who grew up here but people who came here from other countries. I believe the world is now free of polio or very close to it. We even had awful things, I think in Pakistan, with the Taliban going around killing the people involved in vaccinations. These things are cultural and political. There is lots of stuff going on. When people such as the witnesses are saying there is absolute evidence for it and people are making false claims, that is technically true, but how do we best communicate these things?

We need to reach that herd immunisation of 95% - it may be less for some conditions. I ask the witnesses to comment on the voluntary nature of immunisation. I can see why we might not want to go down that road. It is not simply a matter for an individual; the community, one's neighbours and society are impacted by it. Those are some of the issues.

When people lose confidence in banks, irrespective of whether they have buckets of money, certain things will happen. We need to realise that is the space we are in with Gardasil in particular and some other things. I believe Dr. Bonner talked about the collective memory. That is for those of us of a certain age, but we are talking about people who are a generation or two younger. How do we communicate that? How are we going to shatter the myth? The rug has been pulled from under us.

We have a massive communications, and hearts and minds issue to deal with. The witnesses will forgive me for saying this. The more they wear the white coats, the more it causes people to say "Well, you would say that". We need to suggest that people do the right thing or take advice. I do not know that those straightforward messages are enough. That is my point; it is not that they are wrong. Facts are facts and we need to deal with them.

People do not have confidence in our health services. No one wants to know about preventive science; they are bothered about trolleys, etc. The witnesses have been candid in saying there can be side effects, etc. Seatbelts save lives, but it does not mean they save every life. Given that people do not have confidence in our health services, if something unintended happens, I do not have the confidence that my son, daughter or anyone else will get a timely response and support. That is an issue not so much for the witnesses but for us.