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

If a branch of the State is causing hurt to citizens it is the duty of Deputy Kehoe, as Minister of State at the Department of Defence and a Member of Cabinet, to step in and protect them. This has been happening since I first raised this issue in 2010 and probably prior to that. The Minister of State said that it is his job to heed medical advice. The European Medicines Agency report of 2014 states that there is enough evidence from the presented drug safety reports and the submitted literature report and the US Food and Drug Administration, FDA, assessment report supporting a casual relationship between Mefloquine, which is Lariam, and the occurrence of long-lasting and persistent neuro-psychiatric side effects. This, too, is medical advice. I also quoted the WHO earlier. When will the Minister of State take action to prevent citizens within the Defence Forces being prescribed the poison known as Lariam which is causing them long-term damage, psychiatrically and neurologically? At this stage, the Minister of State has had sufficient warning. On his head be it if people continue to die, as they have, as a result of this drug.

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