Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that the Government is advised by the Chief Medical Officer on issues such as this because none of us are medical experts. As even those of us who have degrees in medicine are not experts in all of these fields, we rely on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer when it comes to issues such as this. We absolutely acknowledge Lyme disease. That is why there was a Lyme disease awareness week only last month. It is important to say, however, that chronic Lyme disease is a controversial diagnosis. The test used by the laboratory in Germany is not widely recognised internationally and may give rise to some very sick people, who need a lot of help and medical intervention, receiving a false diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease. We have seen similar issues arise with people who are very sick but attribute the cause of their illness to the HPV vaccine, or with people who have autism who may attribute the cause of their real illness to a cause that has not been established such as, for example, the MMR vaccine. This is an area where we must be guided by the best scientific and medical advice.

See this speech in context