Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Neville for giving way to allow me to make a contribution on this motion. I have spoken on several occasions in the past on the role and functions of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. When the amending legislation came before the House, I spoke at length on the situation of those children who were in residential care during the years in question and who were ignored by the commission. Sadly, there has been no change in this regard. There are two specific categories of children in residential care who remain in the shadows and the Government has sought resolutely to keep their experience out of the public domain. One of these groups comprises those children in State residential institutions who were used as guinea pigs in vaccine trials without their consent. The Government has used the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse as a fig-leaf to ensure their experience is swept under the carpet and that we never receive answers to our questions about the prevailing medical ethos in the 1960s and 1970s.

Two separate sets of trials were carried out on children in State homes, the first during 1960-61 and the second in the early 1970s, up to at least 1973. I understand there was a later trial but I do not have the details of that to hand. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a great upsurge in the number of severe adverse reactions in children who received the three-in-one DTP Trivax vaccine, manufactured by Wellcome. The Eastern Health Board's records for 1973 show that the official in charge of the administration of the vaccine within the health board's region was inundated with reports of severe reactions among children. In the first six months of 1973, in particular, more than 80 reported adverse reactions were recorded. Three years earlier, in 1970, a senior scientist in Wellcome had warned in a memo to senior colleagues that if further reports of severe reactions to the vaccine were received, it might be desirable to cease its manufacture altogether.

The 1973 vaccine trial involved an institution and a comparative control group outside that institution. A total of 116 children were involved, 59 from the community and 57 from two children's homes in the Dublin area. The children in the community were given the normal commercial vaccine, while those in care were used as the guinea pigs for the new trial vaccine that was being studied at the time. The same circumstances prevailed in the other trials. This was completely contrary to any ethical standards. The results of the study were inconclusive in that no significant difference between the vaccines emerged.

The trials beg a number of questions which remain to be answered. To date, however, no answers have been forthcoming. The Government referred this issue to the Laffoy Commission but it was subsequently challenged in the courts. The Government came back with an amendment to refer it to this commission but that did not happen because of the court challenge. No worthwhile information has come into the public domain in regard to what occurred in those institutions, even though State employed medical personnel were involved in administering the trials.

The investigations were prompted by severe adverse reactions to vaccines manufactured by Wellcome and administered in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Among the vaccines administered was batch No. 3741, which was given to a child called Kenneth Best. When Kenneth Best's case came before the High Court in 1991, Mr. Justice Liam Hamilton described Wellcome as negligent and criticised the company's quality control procedures. While this case ended up in the High Court, matters came to a head in 1977 for many of the other victims of vaccine damage, when the then Minister for Health established an expert medical group to examine claims that persons had been permanently damaged by the whooping cough vaccination. The group found a reasonable probability that the vaccine was responsible for damage in 16 of the 93 cases presented to it. At an early stage in the investigation and following the expert group's initial findings, officials advised that it would be inconsistent and inconclusive not to concede proper compensation. As Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Deputy Michael Woods received the recommendations but he decided to ignore his officials' advice and the Fianna Fáil Government of the time pursued a policy of buying off parents by offering a one-off ex gratia payment of £10,000. The payment was accepted by 13 of the 16 families, largely because of the severe financial pressures they faced as a result of their children's profound disabilities. The Best family declined the offer and received over £2.9 million in the High Court in the early 1990s.

Since that offer, it has taken the Government 20 years to reconsider the issue and little has been done in the intervening period by the Department of Health and Children to adequately compensate the children in question. Following a meeting with the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, in spring 2002, the Government undertook a preliminary review of vaccine damage compensation schemes in other countries. The vast majority of EU countries, as well as many other developed countries, have introduced compensation schemes because it is well known that a small number of children are profoundly damaged by the administration of vaccines. This review was submitted in 2004 and gathered dust for more than two years before the present Minister stated she was considering the feasibility of introducing a vaccine damage compensation scheme. It took her a long time to consider that scheme. On the eve of the last general election, she announced that a steering group with specific terms of reference was being established and would furnish its report as a matter of urgency. Almost 18 months later, we still have no report.

This Government has turned its back on these children. Those who were used as guinea pigs have not yet received answers regarding why they were used, why consent was not sought and what type of concoction was administered. Those who have been brain damaged as a result of State promoted vaccination programmes must continue to fight for basic services. Their parents are worried sick about what will happen to their children after they pass away. It is time for decisive action in this area.

I also want to speak about children put into State care after arriving here unaccompanied from outside the EU. Since 2000, 441 children put into the care of the HSE have gone missing and 388 remain unaccounted for. This figure represents 88% of the total number put into care. This is another scandal which will require investigation at some point in the future. It is believed that some of these children have found their way into the sex industry here or in other EU member states. It is appalling that the Government continues to ignore this issue just because these children are not Irish citizens and do not have family members in the State.

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