{"id":4800,"date":"2025-07-12T17:57:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T17:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/4800\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T17:57:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T17:57:03","slug":"states-shameful-treatment-of-thalidomide-survivors-criticised-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/4800\/","title":{"rendered":"State\u2019s \u2018shameful\u2019 treatment of thalidomide survivors criticised \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Government backbencher has accused the State of behaving \u201cappallingly\u201d towards the victims of thalidomide<\/a> and criticised the \u201cglacial pace\u201d with which the issue is being dealt.<\/p>\n

Fine Gael TD Barry Ward<\/a> said the Government has \u201cdragged its heels\u201d in apologising to the affected mothers and their children, now in their mid to late 60s. The treatment of the survivors \u201cis fundamentally wrong and shameful and is a stain on the recent history of this State\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

He believed a \u201cbasic justice\u201d has \u201cnever been met\u201d, more than 60 years after pregnant women were prescribed the drug, originally developed in Germany in the 1950s as a sedative and later promoted to treat morning sickness.<\/p>\n

It was withdrawn from most markets in 1961 following evidence of its link to birth defects. However, it was still sold in Ireland until 1964.<\/p>\n

Many children were born without limbs or with shortened limbs, with hearing and vision impairment and injuries to internal organs.<\/p>\n

Mr Ward said since then there has been \u201cno apology, acknowledgment, full suite of treatment and no compensation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The D\u00fan Laoghaire TD said he was highlighting the issue because this week marks a year since the three former coalition leaders wrote a letter to thalidomide survivors, which was \u201cnot in fact an apology or an acknowledgment, but really a communication in respect of some supports that have been put in place\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the time the letter angered members<\/a> of the Irish Thalidomide Association, still waiting for a State apology following a long-running campaign in which they are also seeking compensation and supports.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Jacqui Browne obituary: Thalidomide survivor and leading advocate for the disabledOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There are fewer than 40 survivors still alive, and only five of their mothers who were prescribed the drug.<\/p>\n

In September 2024 the then government appointed retired High Court Judge Mr Justice Paul Gilligan to engage with thalidomide survivors. Mr Ward said he did not want \u201cin any way to interfere with that process\u201d.<\/p>\n

But raising the issue of thalidomide in the D\u00e1il this week, he condemned the lack of apology for what had happened to the women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are people who have lived throughout their lives with debilitating issues as a result of the fact that they survived thalidomide while their mothers were pregnant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe glacial pace with which the State is actually addressing this problem is shameful\u201d and \u201cthe treatment of thalidomide survivors by allowing the matter to go on for as long as it has is a very poor reflection on the State\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said most of the women who took the drug and \u201cbore that burden throughout their lives\u201d, have died. <\/p>\n

Minister of State for Justice Niall Collins told Mr Ward the Government \u201cis committed to supporting people affected by thalidomide\u201d as he referred to the \u201cenhanced package\u201d of health supports and personal social services. Enhanced healthcare, social care and independent living supports are currently available, he said. <\/p>\n

Mr Collins also pointed to the establishment last year of the national thalidomide advocacy office, set up to liaise with thalidomide survivors and assist them to access health and social service supports. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe support provided is on a one-to-one basis, tailored to the specific needs of the person and in response to contact received from survivors,\u201d with liaison from relevant HSE and other personnel to ensure the services are provided. <\/p>\n

He said \u201ceach survivor is also eligible for a medical card on an administrative basis, regardless of means, in addition to aids and appliances, equipment, housing adaptations and access to a full range of primary care, hospital and personal social services\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Minister also said the German Gr\u00fcnenthal Foundation, established by the drug manufacturer, has \u201caccepted applications from individuals for compensation for thalidomide-related injury\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Government backbencher has accused the State of behaving \u201cappallingly\u201d towards the victims of thalidomide and criticised the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[5371,97,243,5370],"class_list":{"0":"post-4800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-fine-gael","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-medication","11":"tag-thalidomide"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}