THE Government Press Secretary declined to comment last night on allegations that inmates of Dublin children homes were used in trials of three-in-one vaccines in the early 1960s and 1970s.
According to a report in the Irish Independent three babies who were either mentally or physically handicapped were among children given a trial. vaccine in 1973.
The report also says children from five Dublin orphanages were administered with a trial three-in-one vaccine in the early 1960s when they also received the polio vaccine.
Some of the children have since suffered from side effects "including convulsions, infantile spasms and brain damage", the report says.
In addition, in 1982 the Government offered the parents of 14 children with brain damage an ex-gratia payment of Pounds 10,000, and that the Department of Health frustrated attempts by the parents of alleged vaccine- damaged children to take legal action.
The report cites a health board report which "described the death of a one-year-old child as "an apparent adverse reaction following immunisation".
It adds that the Department has refused to reply to questions on the affair which it received on June 16th.