SEANAD REPORT:THE PUBLIC needed to be alerted to a very dangerous practice whereby criminal gangs were attempting to cash-in on the swine flu pandemic, Feargal Quinn (Ind) stressed.

The European Medicines Agency had drawn attention to the fact that such gangs were offering counterfeit flu vaccine for sale on the internet. It was quite likely that there would not be sufficient legally distributed vaccine for everybody who wanted it in this country, and there was a danger that some Irish people might be tempted, unwittingly, to source the bogus vaccine that was on offer.

Mr Quinn said a track and trace system to combat counterfeit medicines was being tested in Sweden. Minister for Health Mary Harney should consider availing of this system.

Nicky McFadden (FG) said she found it extraordinary that patients seeking protection from the flu were being referred from the clinics to their GPs only to find that they did not have the vaccine.

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Saying that the Government should seriously consider devising a social contract, Joe O’Toole (Ind) said that it was not enough just to tell people their wages or other entitlements would have to be cut. “They need to know when that’s going to end.”

The social contract would provide people with a commitment that there was a future for them. TheGovernment should show the social partners where everybody was going to play their part and take the pain in a fair way.

Seanad leader Donie Cassidy said that as far as he could see, everyone wanted to play their part in achieving economic recovery, but he agreed that people needed to know that there was a time-frame for this.

Larry Butler (FF) said the planned one-day strike should be called off as the social partners were engaged in talks.