Sinn Féin’s candidate for the Dublin Central bye-election has said she now has a better understanding of public health issues, as it has emerged that she made claims at a Dublin City Council debate in 2014 regarding alleged risks from adding fluoride to the public water system.
Sinn Féin proposed a bill at the time which sought to ban putting fluoride into the water supply in Ireland – with penalties of up five years in prison.
Speaking at a council debate at the time on a motion proposed by Sinn Féin to end water fluoridation, Councillor Janice Boylan said that her niece had to undergo two dental extractions as a five-year old, and pointed to fluoride in the water as causation.
“I myself have a niece who doesn’t eat sweets, brushes her teeth after every meal, and has had to undergo two extractions as a five-year-old under anaesthetic,” Cllr Boylan told the Council chamber.
“Now, if it’s not the sweets, and it’s not her diet, and she brushes her teeth after every meal, then what is it? It only comes back to the fluoride in the water,” she said.
Addressing remarks made by other councillors as she spoke, Cllr Boylan said her comments were “not bullshit”.
However, Cllr Boylan has now told the Independent that she was starting her career in public service at the time and that she now has “a lot more experience and understanding of public health issues”.
Cllr Boylan said: “At the time I was upset at the traumatic health experience of my niece. I was starting my career as a councillor and I have a lot more experience and understanding of public health issues today.”
Fluoride is added to public water supplies to prevent tooth decay. Research from the Health Research Board in Ireland in 2022 said that, at low concentrations, fluoride in drinking water has “an important protective effect against dental caries, which is a significant public health problem internationally.”
It also found that “there continues to be no definitive evidence that artificially fluoridated water is associated with negative health outcomes.”
However, in 2013, Sinn Féin put forward a bill aimed at ensuring fluoride is removed from the water supply in Ireland, with then Sinn Féin spokesperson on Environment, Brian Stanley TD saying: “The evidence against fluoridation is overwhelming. It is time to stop this mass medication.”