John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

In any event, the motion was debated. Like other colleagues, I had been contacted by genuinely concerned citizens across the country who were fearful of what they see as mass medication through the public water system. Some people genuinely believe that exposure to fluoride poses a risk or a danger to their health and well-being. I do not take the view that just because the State is party to this, it is okay or it will do not harm. We have seen across a tranche of areas over the decades that this is not the case. I do not blindly put my trust in the regulator or in whomever that trust might be vested. On that day, however, the then Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Alex White, delivered, over a period of an hour and half or more, the most comprehensive, compelling and persuasive report and reply on the issue of fluoridation. It was so complete and convincing that, to be fair to Senators Norris and Quinn, they withdraw their motion calling for the fluoridation of public water to be ceased.