The Republic of Ireland is one of two countries (Singapore is the other) with a nationwide compulsory fluoridation program, but likely not for long. The dominoes are falling in Ireland with the fifth major community calling for an end to fluoridation in 2015 and the 10th in the past year, representing more than 2 million Irish residents out of a population of 4.6 million. Northern Ireland does not fluoridate.
While local and county councils do not have the authority to end fluoridation in Ireland, their continued passage of the motions against fluoridation cannot be ignored for much longer. The Irish Government is coming under mounting national cross-party political pressure to end public water fluoridation in the run-up to the impending General Election planned for 2016.
List of County and Town Councils that have passed
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| Community | Date of Vote | Population | Details |
| Bantry Town CouncilCounty Cork | January 2014 | 3,300 | Called “for an immediate end to water fluoridation in Ireland” |
| Cavan County Council | January 2015 | 73,000 | Requested Irish Water to end the practice of adding fluoride to public water supplies |
| Clonakilty Town CouncilCounty Cork (west) | May 2014 | 4,720 | Called “for an immediate end to water fluoridation in Ireland”“Seven local businesses — Fernhill House Hotel, The Lettercollum Kitchen Project, The Winery, Betty Brosnans, Coffee Mezzo, Jagged Edge and The Sticky Bun — have all installed reverse osmosis water filtration systems to assure their customers that all food and beverage products prepared on site are fluoride-free.” |
| Cork City Council | October 2014 | [ 119,230 ] | ADD TO LIST“passed by majority a motion calling for the immediate cessation of public water fluoridation”Cork is the second largest city in the state and the third most populous in Ireland . In 2005, it was selected as the European Capital of Culture. (Wikipedia) |
| Cork County Council | March 2014 | 518,220 | “unanimously passed a motion calling on the Government to stop treating the public water supply with fluoride.”The largest county council in the country |
| Dublin City Council | October 2014 | 527,612 | “The motion called for fluoride or any derivative to be removed from the Irish water supply, and to make it a crime for anyone to put it into the water supply”The largest local council in Ireland… responsible for local government in the city of Dublin (Wikipedia) |
| South Dublin County Council | 2015 | 265,205 | ADD TO LISTThe council is the third largest local authority in Ireland (Wikipedia) |
| Galway Council | January 2015 | 75,600 | Unanimous support by the Council: “records its opposition to the current policy of water fluoridation in Ireland”The fourth most populous urban area in the Republic of Ireland and the sixth most populous city in Ireland. (Wikipedia) |
| Kerry County Council | November 2014 | 145,500 | Unanimous support “for the cessation of public water fluoridation” |
| Leitrim County Council | January 2015 | 31,800 | Unanimous support “to ban the addition of fluoride to water supplies” |
| Macroom Town CouncilCounty Cork | February 2014 | 3,600 | Council “called for the immediate cessation of water fluoridation in Ireland” |
| Skibbereen Town CouncilCounty Cork | 2013 | 2,100 | “called for an immediate cessation to the practice” |
| Wexford County Council | January 2015 | 150,000 | Unanimous support calling for “an end to the outdated and dangerous practice of public water fluoridation” in Ireland. |
November 2014 Ireland Teleconference Audio
Last November the International Fluoride Free Teleconference explored the amazing fluoride-free momentum building up in Ireland. This call was a great opportunity to hear how campaigners were able to successfully get the two largest city councils in the country, as well as the largest county council, to pass resolutions calling for an end to fluoridation in Ireland. The call was a wonderful learning opportunity for campaigners around the world, and featured activists Mary Hilary and Ciarnan Mallory (www.fluoridefreewater.ie), Owen Boyden of Fluoride Free Towns (http://fluoridefreetowns.com), holistic doctor Tony Hughes, and journalist Ciarna Sherlock. Don’t miss this inspirational and educational experience, download the audio today and listen at your leisure:
The Girl Against Fluoride Conference Video
Videographer and fluoride-free campaigner Doug Cragoe has uploaded a high quality video of Aisling Fitzgibbon, The Girl Against Fluoride, speaking at FAN’s Fifth Citizens Conference in Washington, D.C. in September 2014. This video is fairly short, only 28 minutes long, and should get your creative fluoride-fighting juices flowing. We hope you find her presentation as inspirational as we did: