Group protests at TUI conference
WEXFORD BASED members of the support group, REGRET (Reactions and Effects of Gardasil Resulting in Extreme Trauma) protested last week outside a TUI conference in Clayton White’s Hotel.
The event took place on Wednesday and a spokesperson for the group told this newspaper that the members wanted to highlight their concerns to the Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton T.D., who was in attendance.
There was no interaction between the minister and the protesters but one member, Valerie Roche, said teachers are supportive.
‘It was brought up at a TUI conference last year,’ she said, while also highlighting that teachers have given their support privately.
‘Concern has been raised by teachers privately but obviously some of them are not in a position to get involved in the group,’ she said.
‘There are incidents of absenteeism and drops in grades from students who had excelled,’ she added.
‘However, teachers don’t want to talk about it in public.’ Ms Roche went on to comment there are growing concerns about the issue and that it’s not in people’s imaginations; ‘These are normal young people; it’s not in their head.’
‘A lot of these girls missed out on their education and a number of girls were, and are, being home-schooled and we just feel no-one cares.’
She said some girls’ grades had dropped so badly that they didn’t get the college courses they wanted. She also said her group is concerned about moves to have a similar vaccine introduced for boys.
‘We are not against vaccinations but we just don’t want this introduced for boys when all of the concerns relating to the girls’ vaccination have not been fully investigated,’ said Ms Roche.
She also encouraged concerned parents to attend the REGRET conference taking place in the Clayton Hotel, Dublin, on April 21, at which a number of expert guest speakers will be present.