{"id":368075,"date":"2026-03-27T13:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/368075\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T13:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:15:08","slug":"three-more-children-settle-epilim-sodium-valproate-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/368075\/","title":{"rendered":"Three more children settle Epilim sodium valproate cases"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Also on Thursday the Department of Health said it will not publish an interim report from a public inquiry looking at regulation of sodium valproate, sold as Epilim and manufactured by Sanofi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The anti-seizure medication has been linked in Ireland and abroad to a high risk of serious injury for babies in the womb.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/news\/arid-41424283.html\">Karen Keely<\/a> from support group OACS Ireland said they were \u201cdelighted with the favourable outcome&#8221; for the latest family.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">However, she said: \u201cThe fact that many more will continue in court underscores the urgent need for the inquiry to establish comprehensive redress so families are spared endless litigation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">She called for all families to receive \u201csubstantial redress\u201d, saying all \u201cdeserve equal measure of recompense&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Solicitor Ciara McPhillips, Michael Boylan Litigation, has worked with eight cases so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThis is yet another family dragged through the courts to vindicate their children\u2019s rights, all against a background where an inquiry was promised years ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5019431_9_articleinlinemobile_CC_20OACS_20IRELAND28.jpg\" alt=\"OACS Ireland co-founder Karen Keely with her sons Harry, Lorcan, and Lee, at the 2024 announcement of the public inquiry into the prescribing of anti-epilepsy medication sodium valproate to pregnant women. Picture: Colin Keegan\/Collins\u00a0\" title=\"OACS Ireland co-founder Karen Keely with her sons Harry, Lorcan, and Lee, at the 2024 announcement of the public inquiry into the prescribing of anti-epilepsy medication sodium valproate to pregnant women. Picture: Colin Keegan\/Collins\u00a0\" class=\"card-img\"\/>OACS Ireland co-founder Karen Keely with her sons Harry, Lorcan, and Lee, at the 2024 announcement of the public inquiry into the prescribing of anti-epilepsy medication sodium valproate to pregnant women. Picture: Colin Keegan\/Collins\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIt is running now but with no indication or guarantees that the up-shot of the inquiry will include any form of redress.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Inquiry chair Brid O\u2019Flaherty began work in July and has submitted her interim report to health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">However a department spokeswoman said the terms of reference \u201cprovide for the publication of the final report only&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The terms do not prohibit publication of an interim report.<\/p>\n<p>                Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Also on Thursday the Department of Health said it will not publish an interim report from a public&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[54,4888,103,2120,61,60,371],"class_list":{"0":"post-368075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-courts","9":"tag-family","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-hse","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}