Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle’s office for allowing time for this topical issue. I am glad the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Corcoran Kennedy, is here and I congratulate her on her recent appointment. I am sure she will do an excellent job.

Over the past nine months numerous parents in County Kerry have contacted me with concerns about their daughters who have received the human papillomavirus, HPV, vaccination to prevent cervical cancer and who believe that serious side-effects have affected their daughters as a result. The number of people who have contacted me leads me to believe this may be more than coincidence, but I cannot say that definitively or prove it. It cannot, however, be disproved.

I and Deputy Healy-Rae feel that the parents of these young ladies need to be made aware of the potential side-effects, of the cases that have occurred and of the people who have linked this vaccination to their illnesses. I have received responses to parliamentary questions showing that the Department has looked over this, that the European Commission has looked into it and a link cannot be proven. To prove or disprove a link would take a long time and a lot of money. In the meantime, at the very least, parents should be made aware of the number of cases of potential side-effects and the number of people potentially affected.

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