Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 November 2016
217. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will investigate the alteration of records in 2002 relating to vaccine trials carried out at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in 1960-1961; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36491/16]
View answerIn policy terms, matters in relation to vaccine trials are an issue for my colleague the Minister for Health within his responsibility for clinical trials involving medicinal products. However, as the Deputy will be aware the former Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork is one of the fourteen named institutions currently being examined by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters.
This Commission of Investigation was established by Government (S.I. No. 57 of 2015) in response to significant public concerns relating to the care and welfare of the women and children who were residents of theses institutions. The scope of the Commission’s remit ensures it can provide a full account of what happened to women and children in these homes during the period 1922 to 1998.
On the question of vaccine trials, it is notable that Article 1(v) of the Commission's terms of reference requires the Commission to examine compliance with relevant regulatory and ethical standards in relation to systemic vaccine trials identified by the Commission as being conducted on children in these homes. As the Deputy will be aware these historical vaccine trials have been the subject of debate and inquiry on a number of occasions over recent decades. These inquiries were summarised in the Report of the Inter-Departmental Group on Mother and Baby Homes as published by my predecessor in July 2014.
I am satisfied that the present Commission has sufficient legal powers to compel witnesses to disclose documents and to provide answers on all related matters. I have no plans to separately investigate these matters. In my view the public interest is best served by allowing the Commission to progress its investigations and to establish the facts of what happened in these homes and to make any recommendations it considers appropriate. This work is due to be completed by February 2018.
