Two Fine Gael county councillors have questioned the policy of adding fluoride to drinking water.

Responding to a recent article published in Hot Press Magazine, Cllr Peggy Nolan has claimed that the issue is “being compounded by the recent revelations from former Minister of the Environment, John Gormley, and from Green Party members”.

In the article, Mr Gormley said he believed a fluoride report he produced was surpressed by the Dáil committee that commissioned it.

“The ex-leader of the Green Party describes the extraordinary circumstances in which the report, written in 2007 while the Green Party were still in opposition, was buried by the Joint Committee on Health and Children, which had commissioned it,” Cllr Nolan said. “Had its recommendations been acted on, it would have brought an end to the 50-year practice of dosing the 26 counties’ population with hydrofluorosilicic acid through the public water supplies.

“The 90-page draft report which analyses the available evidence at the time it was written leaves us in no doubt but to cut flouride from our water supply with immediate effect. This report is a critical document in the fluoridation controversy and must be acted upon.”

Meanwhile, Cllr John Browne has called for an open debate on the issue.

The Longford town-based representative said that while he accepts the intention of protecting people’s teeth is a good reason to add fluoride to water, he thinks the public health benefit is possibly outweighed by the harm that fluoride can do.

“A recent study from Harvard University suggests a link between fluoride in water and a number of mental health issues including ADHD. Other studies link fluoride to thyroid problems and to the bone disease, Osteoporosis,” he explained.

“There is absolutely no fluoride in drinking water in Northern Ireland or Scotland but dental decay rates are similar to those in Ireland,” Cllr Browne added.