Ireland’s thalidomide survivors call for State apology to their mothers, as a priority

Irish thalidomide survivors protested on Thursday calling for a State apology on the 60th anniversary of international withdrawal of the drug. A significant number of Government and Opposition TDs and Senators were also in attendance.

Thalidomide was used to treat morning sickness in pregnancy. It caused foetal damage with survivors born without limbs or with limbs foreshortened, with impairments to hearing and vision, as well as injury to internal organs. There are some 40 thalidomide survivors in Ireland.

Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA) spokeswoman Finola Cassidy said above all they were seeking an apology. "The apology means everything to the mothers. At the moment I only know of about five. They are 80- and 90-year-olds, who literally want somebody to tell them it was not their fault. To have lived with the belief you had some hand, act or part in this is so unfair. It's not justified and so we really want the apology, especially for the mothers," she said.

Following withdrawal of thalidomide internationally in 1961, “no action was taken for up to nine months afterwards” in Ireland, with 51,000 packets of the relevant brand taken here in 1961 alone, she said.

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“How many were lost in pregnancy through miscarriage?” Ms Cassidy asked. “My mother probably took it on day 22, that’s how poisonous it was. If she took it on day 36 it [the effect of the drug] mightn’t have happened.”

Ms Cassidy said: "The Government keeps saying they are bringing the heads of a thalidomide Bill forward in this Dáil term, to offer some sort of statutory redress. The thing is, we have never met with Stephen Donnelly. " She noted that Dr James Reilly was the last minister for health they had met. "How can we have justice when the input is about us, without us?"

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly last week said there were a number of thalidomide cases before the court and it was “not appropriate for me to meet with the representatives, in these circumstances”. He was responding to a parliamentary question from the Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall about the proposed Bill.

He said work was under way to bring forward heads of a Bill to provide health and personal social supports on a statutory basis to thalidomide survivors. “The Government is committed to the ongoing support of Irish thalidomide survivors,” he told Ms Shortall.

Also at the protest was Jacqui Browne (60) who grew up in Tralee. "I've had the guts of 40 surgeries in my life, mostly orthopaedic," she said. For her it meant "as a young child being separated from your family".

Maggie Woods (59), originally from Killybegs, "had a way different life to my siblings". She was "sent away to school".

Now living near Galway city, “I drive. I have children and grandchildren. I have had a very full life,” she said.

The protest was “all about creating awareness that we are still here and we’re not going anywhere. It’s about getting an apology. My Mum and Dad are still alive,” she said.