Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Katherine Reilly's call for defibrillators to be introduced in all public places and to be readily available. The spring statement has brought great news of wonderful extra finance and growth coming to the country. Let us spend some of it wisely. Senator Feargal Quinn brought a simple Bill to the House two years ago, the Public Health (Availability of Defibrillators) Bill 2013. At that stage, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, debated the Bill but did not accept it, saying that it was not fit for purpose. It is a simple Bill. I call on the Leader to ask the current Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, if he can reintroduce this Bill and whether we can get it through. I know it represents a small cost to the Exchequer. I am trained in the use of a defibrillator and I suggest all Senators take a course in it. It is an incredibly intelligent machine. It is very easy to use and it does all the work. Users can save someone's life in an instant. A person who uses cardiopulmonary resuscitation with the mouth can only keep someone going for three minutes. A defibrillator will save a life. I encourage all Senators to get training and, furthermore, I encourage Senators to support Senator Quinn in reintroducing the Bill in the House. Let us have cross-party agreement on it and push it through.

The second matter I wish to raise is also a health matter. Will the Leader ask the Minister when we will have a meaningful debate on fluoride? The last report that the expert group produced was in 2002. A report on fluoride was due to be published in April and it is now May. I remind all Senators that fluoride is a poisonous substance. We could sit in the House today and smile and remember when we used to smoke on aeroplanes and say how ridiculous it was that we used to fly around when everyone was smoking. I promise all Senators without a word of a lie that, equally, we will all be sitting down to lunch in 20 years and recalling when we used to put fluoride in the water. There is no country left in Europe that fluoridates its water. I export goods. I meet Italians and Middle Eastern people. I am ashamed to say it when they sit at my boardroom table in Lily O'Brien's. Only the other day, Italians said to me that the water was fluoridated and asked instead for bottled water. It is not good for this green country.

The Leader has a glass of water before him and you have one as well, a Chathaoirligh. That water is not intelligent. It does not know to go straight to their teeth. It goes past their teeth, into their tummies and into every cell in their bodies. I know it is good for their teeth but it is not good for the rest of their bodies. The USA has passed a law to the effect that a poison warning must appear on every tube of toothpaste. If a person swallows more than a pea-sized amount of toothpaste, he or she must go to hospital or a poison control centre. Our expert group decided not to put that warning on our toothpaste.