I wish to raise the HPV vaccine. In this State and also in the UK we have a history of burying our heads in the sand when there are issues with various drugs - Thalidomide comes to mind. We suddenly at some stage find we are in serious trouble, the drug is withdrawn and then there are legal battles lasting years. Anecdotal evidence is arriving in my office on a daily basis. I do not court constituency contact. I do not go looking for people to contact me. I have no interest in sitting in the Lower House and as such I do not seek contact with the members of the public. However, people are coming to me about this vaccine and they are telling me that their daughters or people they know, who were active sports-inclined people and who had this vaccine, are now chronically ill.

While I might be wrong in this - which is why I am calling for a debate - I understand Ireland may have indemnified the drugs company when it adopted this vaccine and effectively said it would cover the cost if problems arose. If that is true, we may have dug a hole for ourselves that is getting deeper by the day. I am no medic and we might need a medic in here to explain the pros and cons of this drug and whether it is worth continuing to take the chance of administering something that is resulting in fit girls, who are involved in sport and other activities, suddenly becoming listless, tired, unable to attend school and having a lack of attention span.

Many things are being reported. I am not sure what empirical evidence there is to support this, but it is time we had a look at this drug. If it is dangerous, we need to know. If there is a particular cohort for whom it is not suitable, we need to know that as well. I am asking for a debate with the Minister for Health at the earliest possible convenience although I realise we are in a very busy period.

I agree with Senator Gallagher's call for a debate on the issuing of Irish passports. Over the weekend I attended the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Cardiff. The First Minister of Wales was happy to say that his wife and two siblings had Irish passports. The ambassador, H.E. Mr. Dan Mulhall, said there was a huge upsurge in applications for Irish passports. It is timely to have a debate and see where we might be able to locate offices.

Talking about passports and North-South matters, I welcome that two air ambulances have been located in Northern Ireland, at Belfast International Airport and at St. Angelo Airport in Fermanagh. Three years ago Senator Reilly and Alan Shatter, who has left the Oireachthas, located an air ambulance in Athlone which has saved dozens of lives.

Where once a person involved in a traumatic car or other accident was brought to hospital by ambulance, the air ambulance brings people to centres of excellence within 18 or 19 minutes. It is incredible. We have co-operation in the provision of cross-Border health services and now need to bring the Minister to the House for a debate on how best to utilise air ambulances. I appreciate that these are different jurisdictions, but if we are able to use ambulances on a cross-Border basis, we should be able to use air ambulances in the same way. They have been proven to save lives and we must consider where we can locate them around the country to save many more.

I support my colleague Senator Craughwell 100% on the need for a proper full and frank debate on the HPV vaccine. The experience he outlined is the same as the one I have had in my community where young girls are extremely unwell for no reason whatsoever after receiving the HPV vaccine. They are unable to participate in their education or fully in society. I want to have that debate in the House. I am appalled by the attempts to discredit the parents and the young girls who have come forward to set out their experiences.

I want to raise the issue of Cerberus only paying €1,900 in taxes on profits of over €77 million. The era of vulture funds operating virtually tax-free must end. During the debate on the Finance Bill in the Dáil my colleagues made efforts to have inserted amendments which would have forced the Government to report every 12 months on exactly how much the vulture funds' creative use of existing Irish tax law had cost the Exchequer. I asked the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, the exact same question several months ago during the dialogue at the economic forum, but he refused to answer. One of the loopholes to avoid paying tax on Irish property assets sees tax-free rent and gains for those who hold Irish property in a fund that derives under 25% of its value from Irish property and tax-free gains when Irish property is held for over five years by widely held funds. There is something unsettling about learning about the Cerberus tax bill in a national newspaper this morning. While many will point out that it is perfectly legal, I wonder how many would still hold that view if they were presented with a figure annually that showed the huge profits made and the minute taxes paid on them. An overall figure showing the loss to the Exchequer would focus minds. I look forward to the Finance Bill being brought before the Seanad this week and would like to see this morning's story act as a wake-up call to use the new dynamics in the House to highlight what remains to be done in legislation to close the loopholes. I will be bringing forward amendments in an attempt to shut the remaining loopholes. There is no point in people decrying such loopholes and the immoral figures earned while failing to support amendments to shut the same loopholes.