Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is a great pity the Taoiseach's interest in policing reform was not present a number of years ago when Deputy Wallace and I proposed the precise type of legislative reform he is talking about now. As he is in the mood for catching up, he might want to catch up on another issue as well. I refer to the case of a young man who has narcolepsy, which is a lifelong debilitating disorder. He can fall asleep without warning and has done so. He has smashed his teeth and broken his bones. He experiences terrifying hallucinations in a state of sleep paralysis. He has to be given expensive anaesthetics so that he can get a few hours' sleep. He has developed joint and muscle pain. He suffers from anxiety and depression to the extent that he has tried to kill himself. He is 14 years of age. This condition, for which there is no cure, limits every aspect of his daily life. While his condition is bad, the worst thing is that he did not always have it. He was not born with it. It is not a genetic disorder. This was an avoidable catastrophe. This young man, like 80 others, developed the condition as a result of receiving the Pandemrix vaccination for swine flu in 2010.

The Health Service Executive and the State Claims Agency went into the High Court last week unnoticed and undocumented to obstruct this boy and people like him who are seeking documents under discovery. The HSE and the SCA said they would voluntarily disclose these documents in 2015. We need to be clear about the fact that the HSE decided to purchase Pandemrix and continued to distribute it even after it knew it was dangerous and untested and before most of the public in Ireland received it. It knew there was a sevenfold or eightfold risk of serious adverse effects in comparison with its sister drug and alternative vaccinations for which there were no adverse side effects. Poland, Switzerland and the US did not give a licence to Pandemrix, but Ireland gave GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, full indemnity against its harmful side effects. Incidentally, the company made €8 billion in profits out of it.

In 2009, before 95% of Irish children were vaccinated, the Irish Medicines Board, which is now known as the Health Products Regulatory Authority, was told there was a huge difference between the safety profiles of these vaccines. Did the board tell the Minister about this, as it had a statutory obligation to do? Given that it was in possession of that knowledge, why did it continue to administer the least safe vaccine? Was it cheaper? Did the Government have a deal with GSK in return for jobs? Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, France and, recently, Britain have all compensated victims. In contrast, this country's Government is continuing to deny the requests of victims for discretionary medical cards and other benefits. I want to know why Ireland is the only country that does not operate a no-fault vaccine damage payment scheme. Will the Government introduce such a scheme and order the SCA to co-operate with it?

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