John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this motion. I welcome the Minister of State and look forward to his considered response, which will, perhaps, arbitrate on what is an informative debate. I have enjoyed listening to the healthy, non-partisan and open-minded contributions made from both sides of the House.

I thank Senator Norris for tabling this motion. During the past few months I have been contacted by numerous people throughout the country who have genuine concerns about fluoridation of the public water supply. These concerns are not vexatious and are not made by people wishing to stir up trouble for the sake of it. It is, therefore, incumbent on us, in terms of our input to public policy, to address it in an informed way. If the Government and Department of Health are minded to persist with current policy, they have a responsibility to assuage genuine public concerns by way of a public information campaign and so on. It is not acceptable to dismiss these concerns out of hand. I am not an expert in this matter. We are at the mercy of the scientific evidence and expert reports available in this regard. The phrase "doctors differ" comes to mind. It is incumbent on us also not to cherry-pick the scientific data and evidence which supports our argument and suits our needs.

I am of two minds on this matter. I am not persuaded one way or the other. It appears to me that there are genuinely strong and persuasive arguments on both sides. It is of concern that many EU countries have chosen to cease the practice of automatic fluoridation of public water supplies. I am sure they are not doing so without good cause. I find it a little ironic that Ireland, a country which takes so much of its lead from Europe on so many other matters and is so compliant and obedient with regard to virtually everything suggested by the EU, continues to with the practice of fluoridation. If in the morning someone were to take a case to the European Court of Justice and win it, would the Government and Department of Health would be as strong and robust in its insistence on continuation of fluoridation of our water? What would they do if Ireland were subjected to an EU directive in this regard? I do not believe the case for fluoridation is cut and dried.

I ask that the Minister of State as part of his response at least consider assuaging public concerns by way of, as I suggested earlier, a public information campaign. As pointed out by Senator Mooney and other Senators, this is an opportune time, in the context of the passing by this House earlier in the week of the legislation establishing the new Irish Water company, for Government to revisit and at least consider the latest evidence and concerns being expressed. Nobody in this House or, I am sure, in the Department of Health would do anything to damage or put public health in danger.