Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

It was never intended to do a catch-up and one must begin a new programme somewhere. That has been the case in most countries, especially those that have had a country-wide programme. I accept that is not the case everywhere but it has been the case in most places. One must begin somewhere. At the time we accepted the HIQA report and made a decision to proceed with the vaccine we had hoped to start the programme one year earlier and to do a catch up. However, since we gave a commitment to a particular group of girls they will now be vaccinated. They are in first year now and would have been in sixth class at the time. Originally, we intended to do this in primary school because we have a track record of immunisation programmes in primary schools. Now it will be done in secondary school but it will catch the same group of girls that would have received it in sixth class last year.

Given the resource constraints, which are considerable as I remarked earlier, I am not in a position to repay the high cost of €600 to the individuals that availed of it. I acknowledge the cost was high relative to the price for which we can now procure the vaccine.

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