Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This sounds to me like a classic case of doctors differing and patients dying. If one looks at other militaries around the world, two years ago the US military declared the drug to be one of last resort. US Army Special Operations Command has banned its use. Defence Ministries in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada have either banned its use or use it as a last resort only.

We would not knowingly put soldiers at risk if we could avoid it. It appears from the evidence coming from other jurisdictions that that is their conclusion as well. They have moved to some other drug. The producer, Roche, has also said there are potential side effects to this drug. Why is this happening? Is it because it is the cheapest drug? Is it because we have stockpiles of the drug? Families are suffering. They want to know what triggered this response in their loved ones, which is why we are trying to get to the core of the issue this morning.

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