Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I spoke on this last Thursday afternoon. I thought that the Minister would have seen the light over the weekend, but instead she said that the Opposition is playing politics with this very important motion. We are not playing politics. We see children aged 12 having a chance of living longer, but the Government sees girls aged 12 dying with cervical cancer in the future. As politicians, we all go to funerals and one type of funeral we hate attending is that of a young woman who has died from cancer. We hate going into a mortuary and seeing a young woman dead because of cancer. The Government has a chance to do something tonight, but its Deputies are sticking to the party line and forgetting about people outside of this House.

Death from cancer is slow and painful. It is a long, painful road that nobody wants to travel. The Minister states that she is saving €10 million on the vaccination programme and €6 million on its implementation, but that is not a lot of money. If she asked every woman to go out with a bucket and collect money next Saturday, then we could bring in millions of euro between now and Christmas.

I looked up the website of the Progressive Democrats Party this evening. That party is now dead and gone, and it had a long, slow and painful death. I was horrified to read a statement posted on 5 August:

The Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney T.D., announced (Tuesday 5th August, 2008) that she has asked the HSE to prepare and submit a plan for the introduction of a HPV vaccination programme for 12 year old girls to commence in September 2009.

How does the Minister feel about this right now? The Progressive Democrats Party is defunct, gone and dead. The same will happen to many 12 year old girls if she does not change her mind between now and 8.30 p.m.

I admired Deputy McDaid when he spoke earlier. However, he then said that he was abstaining. He might as well vote with the Government, because if he had something in his heart, he would go up the stairs and turn right with the Opposition. Talk is very cheap. Government Deputies will leave this House tonight and I hope they feel proud of what they are about to do. They should think about what they are voting for — the death of young children. When they are on the streets, or when they go to the shopping centre, they should look at 12 year old girls and think where they will be in the years to come. They will be dead because of this Government.

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