Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Norris in his suggestion that the body politic has damaged the careers of many politicians in economic terms over the years. I do not think many of the populist moves that were made necessarily resonated with the public in the way that might have been expected.

The World Health Organization, WHO, recently published a list of priority pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics. The list, which comprises 12 families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health, highlights extremely dangerous bacteria that have built-in abilities to resist treatment. It is increasingly concerning that these bacteria can pass along genetic material that allow other bacteria to become resistant to drugs as well. The introduction of penicillin in the 1940s heralded the antibiotic era. We are now in the era of antibiotic resistance or antimicrobial resistance. I was shocked to read that, according to a recent review on antimicrobial resistance commissioned by the UK Government, 700,000 people across the world die from antimicrobial resistance-related infections each year. It is predicted that this death toll will reach 10 million by 2050, which would make antimicrobial resistance the world's largest cause of death, surpassing cancer. In the case of a woman in the United States that was documented recently, none of the 26 available antibiotics worked on the incurable infection - the superbug - that eventually killed her. We must address, as a matter of urgency, the fact that antibiotics will one day not work anymore. A four-year project is currently probing the potential of coatings that might repel and eliminate micro-organisms that come into context with everyday hospital textiles such as bedsheets and gowns. These antimicrobial coatings could also be used on solid surfaces like walls, floors, beds and tables. Although this endeavour is not a silver bullet, I believe the HSE should do everything it can to support it, especially when it is investing in new hospitals. I am calling on the Minister for Health to examine the list produced by the WHO and to allocate funding for research into the development of new antibiotics here in Ireland as a matter of priority. If the Minister for Health is coming to this House in the near future, I will be very keen to raise this issue with him.