Ms Joan O'Donnell:

I will say a few words and then hand over to Mr. Murphy. We appreciate all the areas covered. The role of the State and how we deal with the legacy issues is still outstanding. We would like the opportunity to return to that issue.

The speakers from the HSE and the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, spoke about the unintended consequences of taking people off medications early, etc. The unintended consequences of not dealing with this issue now will be devastating. They have been devastating for people so far. The first person with a diagnosis of foetal anti-convulsant syndrome, FACS, in Ireland was born in 1987. Unfortunately, we are fairly sure there are children born in Ireland who are living with this condition today. That is what we are dealing with and it is the reason we are here. What is the role of the State in this and where does accountability lie? Those questions are still outstanding after this.

We very much welcome and look forward to seeing the initiatives outlined by the HSE and, in terms of when we knew about the products, the time lags between when information leaflets were changed in the United Kingdom versus Ireland. That is my final comment.