Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

It is difficult to believe, in this computer era, that the number of personnel deployed in the sub-Saharan region who were administered Lariam cannot be quantified. Given the concerns that have been expressed by serving soldiers and ex-soldiers in regard to this medicine, those data should be compiled without delay. Will the Minister give a commitment, in advance of any future deployment in sub-Saharan Africa, that a review of the drug and its administration in the Defence Forces will be undertaken? Its use as an anti-malaria drug has been discontinued in the armed forces of many countries on the basis of its severe side effects, which include suicide and suicidal tendencies. The Minister indicated that three Defence Forces personnel have been identified as suffering side effects after taking the drug but that it is very difficult to say conclusively whether any staff committed suicide as a reaction to Lariam. That would indeed be difficult to quantify if the question of whether Lariam had been administered was not considered by the medical officer who conducted the examination of personnel who died through suicide.

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