Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom ar dtús báire mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an 13 Teachta eile ar ghlac an deis páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht tábhachtach seo. Measaim go bhfuil sé ceart agus cuí go bhfuilimid ag déanamh é seo anocht agus go bhfuil roinnt dóibh siúd a bhfuil an nimh seo ina gcoirp toisc gur bhrú na Fórsaí Cosanta orthu é a ghlacadh anseo linn agus a gclanna le roinnt dóibh. Tá sé ceart agus cuí go bhfuil roinnt clann a bhfuair a mac nó a iníon bás de thairbhe féinmharaithe anseo chomh maith mar tá na ceisteanna sin ar fad fite fuaite le ceist Lariam.

I am surprised at the Minister of State because I thought - just by virtue of the fact that he did not table an amendment such as the Government would usually submit - that he and the Department might have come to their senses. I knew nothing of the court case happening on Tuesday. It would not have swayed me one way or the other.

We are right to have a debate on Lariam in the House because we are not debating individual cases. It is important to note that, by chance, we are having the debate on the same day as fuschia appeal day, which raises funds for ex-service men and women. It is a coincidence because our Private Members' business comes up only once in a while. We were at the launch of that appeal for moneys and for help for ex-service men and women and now here we are in the Chamber to appeal to the Government to help those service men and women who are affected by the toxicity of Lariam.

The Minister of State's answer is the same palaver that we have had day in, day out since I have been raising this issue. I first raised it in 2010 along with Deputy Brian O'Shea, who had been the Labour Party spokesperson on defence. Quite a number of others also raised the issue, and I listed them earlier in the debate. All that we asked was that the Minister of State could have looked at report after report. This is why I have this wad of papers with me tonight. These are reports. I did not write them, I am not a medical expert and I do not know half of the words contained within them. I do know, however, what the conclusions are and every single one of them is very, very stark. They say that this is a poison and it is dangerous and do not give it to a child, a dog or whoever and definitely do not give it to a person who is going to be in charge of mechanical vehicles or guns. What do we do? We do just that and every time there is a detachment of the Defence Forces sent in to sub-Saharan Africa, or elsewhere, we are poisoning those who end up with the side effects. Luckily for us not everyone is affected.

There is the argument that we are not medical professionals and that we should not get involved but it must be remembered that medical professionals and some pharma industries have poisoned communities over the years and are not infallible. They make mistakes. We all make mistakes. Sometimes it is good for us to stand up and say we made a mistake, something is wrong and we cannot undo it but can stop it from happening to anybody else. Ultimately, that is the appeal in this motion.

The motion I produced previously was much stronger and went a lot further. It is still my view that all the steps contained in the motion, to which Deputy Ó Laoghaire alluded, are still required to happen. The motion before the House today is for the Minister of State. He has the power to instruct the military authorities to take decisions, which in this case would be to end the use of Lariam and also to set about trying to tackle the effects of the use of Lariam on those who have side effects to make sure they and their families have the required supports. In other cases, where major medical side effects were identified, such as in the use of thalidomide, it is considered that the State should step in and help those affected by a State policy. That is all we are seeking. We wish to ensure those men and women who are affected have medical cards and are provided with psychiatrists or whatever specialist is required.

I find the debate sad. I thought earlier when I was discussing the matter with the delegations which came to the House tonight for the debate that perhaps the Government would not oppose the motion given the fact that, thankfully, the Opposition, which is larger than the Government on this occasion is going to support it tomorrow because they have signed up to it. It appears that the motion will pass. Beyond that, if the Dáil directs the Minister of State to do something, he could take the required steps to instruct the military authorities to live up to the message we will send to them when we sign up to the motion tomorrow.

I thank everybody for helping me to get to grips with this over the years, especially those who shared quite traumatic personal details. All of us who have listened to their testimony have been affected by it. That is why I was adamant that I would bring this motion before the House at the earliest possible opportunity. A few years ago, I would not have had a chance of getting it passed. Thankfully, the groups I have mentioned have managed to persuade many other people of the rightness of their cause. I hope the Minister will see the light before too long.

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