Tarbert native and Ireland’s youngest Thalidomide survivor John Stack.
Tarbert native and Ireland’s youngest Thalidomide survivor, John Stack, told The Kerryman this week that, following a meeting at the Government Buildings in Dublin with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris, the government is finally “taking political ownership of” the process for survivors.
As a result of the meeting, it was decided that as part of an ongoing, judge-led facilitation process for survivors, the government has agreed to provide an enhanced package of services for all survivors, along with medical cards for unacknowledged Thalidomide survivors.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the Government said that Mr Martin and Mr Harris told the group “that the pathway for people who have not yet had their injuries affirmed as caused by the thalidomide drug is being completed”.
It confirmed that Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill “has agreed to provide discretionary medical cards to unacknowledged thalidomide survivors” and “this will apply to individuals who are currently seeking acknowledgement, or those who intend to seek acknowledgement, as survivors of thalidomide through the State process.”
John, who was the chairperson of the Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA) for a number of years, was needlessly affected by the toxic morning sickness drug Thalidomide, which was first sold in Ireland in 1959.
But as its popularity grew, so did the number of babies born with birth defects and lifelong disabilities, and it took years before it was finally taken off the shelves in Ireland. John was born in January 1963, 14 months after the International withdrawal was not heeded by the State; his mother took thalidomide seven months after the drug should have been taken off the Irish market.
The German manufacturer apologised in 2012 to those born without limbs as a result of its use.
John said the meeting was positive, but they will meet the Taoiseach and Tánaiste again next month and see what comes from that.