John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Senator Quinn mentioned that there are several countries which have banned the use of fluoride. There are not. They stopped the use of fluoride, which is a little different from banning the use of it. They recommend that they do not use it. It is important that we make that distinction because to state that certain countries have banned fluoride indicates that there is a public health risk that required legislative banning of the adding of fluoride. That is not the case. They have stopped it.

There are many other points I would make about this. There is legislative underpinning in Ireland, not in other countries, but that does not involve the mandatory adding of fluoride of water. It is a legislative underpinning of the adding of fluoride to water. There is a nuance in this. It is different and it can be interpreted that it is compulsory by law. The legislative underpinning allows us do this and that is the difference. It is a nuance, but it is a difference. We must maintain public confidence in this matter and our use of language in this debate is key to doing so. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for indulging me.