Minutes of proceedings of the Plenary Meeting of the Irish Expert Body on Fluorides and Health held in the Alexander Hotel, Fenian Street, Dublin 2 
on Wednesday, 22nd June 2005

Present:	Dr Seamus O’Hickey (Chairman), Dr Wayne Anderson, Councillor Jack Bourke, Mr Denis Lyons, Mr Stephen McDermott, Mr David Moloney, Dr Joe Mullen Dr Brian O’Herlihy, Professor Denis O’Mullane Mr Darragh Page, Mr Ray Parle, Mr Rowland Reece, Ms Martina Queally, Mr Luke Varley

In attendance:  Ms Deirdre Sadlier, Ms Patricia Gilsenan, Mr Tom Rogers, Secretariat

Apologies:	Dr Paul Beirne, Professor John Clarkson, Dr Gerard Gavin, Ms Ursula O’Dwyer, Ms Biddy O’Neill, Mr Matt Twomey

EB Minute 29/05:  Apologies
Apologies for the meeting were noted.

EB Minute 30/05:  Minutes of the last meeting (27th April 2005)
These minutes were agreed and then signed by the Chairman.

EB Minute 31/05:  Matters Arising
Ref:	“Regarding a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods”.  

The meeting was informed that fluoride will remain on the list of food additives.  It was agreed that the New and Emerging Issues Sub-committee will review the documentation and report to the Expert Body at a future date.  It was agreed that the Secretariat will circulate the relevant documentation and correspondence to the members.

Ref: 	Action Plan of The Irish Expert Body on Fluorides and Health

Tabled Item 3.1 
Subject to minor corrections, the Chairman’s Introduction was approved by the Body.  The Action Plan will be published in September 2005. 

Tabled Item 3.2
Subject to the following amendments the Membership Listing was approved.

1.	Replacement of the column heading ‘Representative’ with ‘Member’
2.	Replacement of the column heading ‘Area’ with ‘Area of Expertise’
3.	Replacement of the area of expertise description ‘Food’ with ‘Food Safety’
4.	Inclusion of the full department name for the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government

EB Minute 32/05:  Correspondence
Ref:	-	Representations received from the Irish Doctors’ Environmental Association (DOH&C correspondence to Secretariat, IEBFH, 16th May 2005 refers)  

		The IDEA has requested “copies of the Minutes of Meetings held to date by the Body”, under 90/313 EEC and SI 125/98 and 2003/4 EC.  (Tabled item 4.1, 22/06/05)

		The meeting was informed that the request was met in line with the provisions of the above-mentioned regulations (Secretariat correspondence to IDEA and DOH&C 02/06/05 refers).

Ref:	-	Resignation of Expert Body Member (The Consumers’ Association of Ireland correspondence to the Chairman 25/04/05).

The meeting noted the Consumers’ Association representative Ms Dorothy Gallagher’s resignation.  The Chairman expressed his appreciation for her valuable contribution (Secretariat letter to CAI 15/06/05 refers)

EB Minute 33/05:  ‘An Evaluation of the Delivery and Monitoring of Water Fluoridation in Ireland’
The meeting agreed that a national audit of water treatment plants shall be undertaken as a priority arising from the Report’s recommendations.  It was agreed that the Quality Assurance Sub-committee will progress this matter directly with the DOH&C.  It was noted that the authors of the Report presented their findings to the Quality Assurance Sub-committee.  It was agreed that a formal letter of thanks should be conveyed to the Report’s authors.

EB Minute 34/05:  Report of the Sub-Committees
The Chair of each Sub-committee reported to the Plenary meeting on work in progress on priority issues relative to their remit.  The presentation of each report was followed by a discussion.Mr Page was congratulated on producing the EPA Report “The Quality of Drinking Water in Ireland, A Report for the year 2003 with a review of the period 2001-2003”.  This Report has been noted by the Quality Assurance Sub-committee.

The Quality Assurance Sub-committee reported that work is continuing on:

•	Completion of the national census on public water schemes and fluoridation status.
•	Regulations (technical, legal aspects)
•	National Code of Practice
•	HFSA independent testing protocol.

A reference to the Health Service Executive National Service Plan 2005 performance indicators for Primary Health Care was tabled.

It was agreed that the Quality Assurance Sub-committee should liaise directly with the Department of Health and Children in relation to the SIs and public water supplies census.  The Plenary will be kept informed on this matter on an on-going basis.

The Chair of the Communications/Public Health/Health Promotion Sub-committee reiterated the importance of identifying the most appropriate communication methods and messages for the target populations.

It was agreed that the role of an Expert Body spokesperson(s) will be included in the Communications Strategy.

It was agreed that the profile of the Expert Body website will to be increased, as an integral component of this strategy.  A plan for priority actions will be further developed and an update presented to the Expert Body at its next Plenary meeting.  The national and international context for the Communications/Public Health/health Promotion planning process was outlined.

A reference to the Health Service Executive National Service Plan 2005 performance indicators for Health Promotion was tabled.

The New and Emerging Issues Sub-committee’s report informed members of priority areas of attention as follows:

•	Considerations arising from the report on ‘Uses of fluorides in the promotion of oral health in Ireland’, in particular biomarker availability and measurement.

•	The meeting noted that the Sub-committee’s review of existing data on fluorides and health is on-going and this work will inform any emerging priority research area.  A report on this particular matter will be presented at the Expert Body’s next Plenary meeting.

Recent media coverage on osteosarcoma (tabled Item 6.3) was noted and the role of the Expert Body in its support to the DOH&C noted, consistent with the Expert Body’s terms of reference.

EB Minute 35/05:  Executive Committee Report
The Secretariat provided an oral Report to the meeting.  It was agreed that this will be circulated in writing to the Body when it has been approved at the next Executive Committee meeting.

EB Minute 36/05:  Expert Body Business Plan
The date for completion of the Business Plan was approved by the meeting.  

EB Minute 37/05:  AOB
It was agreed that the New and Emerging Issues Sub-committee will review the draft National Nutritional Policy consultation document at their next meeting on 30th June 2005.  This is in line with Recommendation 8 of the Forum on Fluoridation Report (2002).

It was also agreed that the Communications/Public Health/Health Promotion Sub-committee will review the ‘0-6 Oral Health Promotion Project’, developed in the HSE’s North Eastern Area in collaboration with the Dental Health Foundation and TCD, and make its recommendations to the next Plenary meeting.

It was agreed that Mr Parle will forward a copy of relevant reports from the Environment Yearbook to the Secretariat.

Professor O’Mullane extended an invitation to the Expert Body to visit the Oral Health Services Research Centre, Cork.  This was accepted by the members and it will be scheduled on one of the remaining 2005 Plenary meeting dates.

EB Minute 38/05:  Date of next meeting
The next Plenary meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 28th September 2005 commencing at 10:30am.  The venue will be the Oral Health Services Research Centre, Cork. (subject to confirmation).

The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 1:00pm and thanked those present for their attendance.

Signed:	______________________________

Date: 		______________________________