Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, it is not an inquiry; it is a working group of experts that is to make recommendations to me on the continuing use, or otherwise, of Lariam as an effective antimalarial drug. Some 1 million people die in sub-Saharan Africa each year from malaria. It poses a very serious risk to military personnel when they are serving in that region. We have choices. Approximately three drugs are available that could be used to protect serving personnel abroad from malaria. None of them is without issues and problems. There is no simple solution. Nobody is denying that some people have negative side effects when they take Lariam. However, it is a matter of weighing up risk factors to protect people from a very serious disease and at the same time doing everything we can, within reason, to screen people to ensure they are suitable candidates for Lariam before they take it. A number of people have not travelled abroad because they were deemed unsuitable on screening. Therefore, they do not get placed on overseas missions.

This is not about an inquiry but about a medical assessment by a group of experts, both national and international, examining all the work that has been done internationally on this since the last time it reported. It is to make a sensible medical recommendation to me. It is not about having an inquiry.

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