I am grateful to the Minister for coming in to respond to the debate. I hope he will not read a standard reply written prior to my putting the case and that he will listen to what I have to say.
For the past ten years ever since former Deputy Barry Desmond was Minister for Health I raised this case with every single Minister for Health. It concerns a young man in Galway about 24 or 25 years of age whose mother and all his family believe that the three-in-one injection is the cause of his mental and physical retardation. His mother has campaigned during the past 11 years, without making any real progress, to establish if her son is in his present condition because of the batch of vaccine administered to him.
She is a personal friend of Mrs. Best who fought a similar case in Cork and achieved success in the courts. It is tragic that this case which was put before the committee of experts many years ago has been dismissed by them and has not been reopened or properly examined at offical level.
During those years little bits of information were extracted. It has been established that a register was kept in those years. What the lady wants is the number of the batch of the vaccine which was administered at the time her son received the three-in-one injection in Galway in early 1970 when he was about six months old. It would have been administered on three different occasions.
The Western Health Board, the Department of Health, the committee of experts, the doctor who administered it all say there are no records of Patrick's name. Dr. O'Callaghan who administered the vaccine has written a letter — which I have here — confirming that she administered the vaccine and said that in those years families living in remote areas had the vaccine administered in the home. If it had been administered in the clinic in Galway city it would have been included on the register. It would have been helpful if it was established that his name was on the register but the fact that the doctor confirms that she administered it is adequate. About 250,000 injections would have been administered out of that one batch. The lady wants to know if the vaccine came from batch 3741.
I ask the Minister if his Department accepts that the whooping cough vaccination was administered to this person by Dr. O'Callaghan in early 1970 when he was about six months old. Will he indicate whether the vaccine injected in this case came from batch 3741? Is he aware that this person is severely physically and mentally retarded, has the intellectual capacity of a two year old and is about the size of a six year old? This is a tragic case. His mother is convinced the reason her child is in this state is that he suffered as a result of a bad injection. Why does the State not help this lady and inform her of the number of the batch? The vaccine was administered in 1970, it is not that long ago.
I appeal to the Minister to commit himself to make the resources of the State available to ensure a thorough search is undertaken to obtain the number of the batch. That is the purpose of this question. It has nothing to do with the register or anything else. I have followed up all these issues over the years and progress has been slow. If I can obtain the number of the batch we can move on from there. A legal team is working on this case but it has been refused the information. We have got ambiguous answers. When asked about the batch number the reply received was:
We have been in contact with Welcome Ireland Limited, suppliers of the vaccine, during the time in question. However, they have informed us that the only feasible way that information on batch numbers could be obtained is for the board to check records at individual immunisation sites. As outlined in No. 1 above these records have been checked for the time period specified and no entry on the above named could be found.
We know the time the vaccination was administered. If he is not listed on a register so be it, but they must know the number of the batch out of which 250,000 injections were administered in Ireland at that time. Will the Minister indicate if he will put the resources of his Department at the disposal of this family in their search to establish rights for their child who has been so badly affected by this injection?
