Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

All my contributions have been limited and sometimes even truncated. I apologise to our guests for arriving late. I was attempting tri-location, not under medical supervision, but I tried it and it did not work. I thank the witnesses for their submission. I am familiar with the territory. I come from a generation which, to a large extent, was pre-vaccination. I have family experiences from that particular time. It is true that many deaths occurred as a result of the lack of that kind of treatment in the 1940s, 1950s and even into the 1960s. I was a member of what was originally a large family but it did not finish up that way. There are salutary lessons to be learned from that. As public representatives, we have a duty that when an issue is raised, we have to be reasonably certain what we are telling the public is accurate to the best of our ability to prove it. I have no doubt at all that, generally speaking, the vaccination programme is in the best interests of children and families and the health of the nation. However, we live in a world of mass media communication and social media where quite a number of diverse opinions arise. Sometimes they are backed up scientifically and sometimes they are not. To what extent can the witnesses respond to these claims when they arise?

Are the witnesses satisfied that to the best of their ability the reaction to or the side effects of particular vaccinations can be more profound or long-lasting that others? That is just by way of reassurance that when we stand over something, we know exactly what we are talking about. Otherwise, we as public representatives and the medical profession can be accused of not testing sufficiently the issues that come before us. We as Members of both Houses have had numerous experiences over the years of issues arising, sometimes ones which we were not alert to in the time we should have been. Sometimes we were wrong and sometimes we were right.

Those are my questions. With regard to the metabolism of individual children are there exceptions to the rule? As a result of those exceptions to the rule in the metabolism of the child, can there be very different outcomes? I would like clarification on that. I thank the Chairman. That was my usual truncated fashion.