Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to be able to speak on this motion this evening. There has been much controversy over this topic and I have had a number of concerned parents come to me in my constituency clinic in west Cork and here in the Dáil about it.

I believe it is up to individual parents to choose whether they want to vaccinate their daughters. It is not fair that the HSE and the Minister for Health are pushing it down their throats. Many parents have genuine concerns but they are being totally ignored. The head of the HSE went as far as calling them "emotional terrorists". Frankly, that is appalling.

Many young girls and their families have serious concerns about the reaction to and side effects of this vaccination, but they have been totally ignored. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, to walk in the shoes of these parents who have watched their daughters' health deteriorate since getting the vaccination.

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