Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I am quoting Professor Hall, who said it was 40 years since the last pandemic and that nobody could say for certain when it will happen, and that it could be 40 years from now. It is not significant that the disease transferred to a cat in Germany. Last year 45 tigers had to be put down in Bangkok zoo because they ate raw, infected chicken — I stress that it was raw, infected chicken and that it happened a year ago. What happened in Germany is not new.

The decision to purchase Relenza is new. Together with the vaccine, the use of Relenza will mean that 40% of the population is covered. To the best of my knowledge, no country is aiming for anywhere near that target and certainly none are going beyond it. We have decided to buy Relenza, an inhaler-type product, which we believe is suitable for certain categories of patients, as well as the Tamiflu in addition to the vaccine for health care and other workers. The H5N1 virus first arose in South-East Asia in 1997. We must be vigilant. I met Professor Hall today and regular meetings of the expert group are held. I recently sat in on a European planning meeting in the event of a pandemic. Among the issues on which we have yet to make decisions is what we should do with schools. Should we advise people to stay at home? Many health care workers are parents and may stay at home with their children, and other major issues remain to be resolved. We are working with other countries to establish clear areas of co-operation and co-ordination in these matters.

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