Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Symphysiotomy was a most inhumane, degrading and brutal procedure carried out on women without their full knowledge of what was involved, without their permission, and, in some cases, they did not even know what was going on. It led to horrific health problems for these women with intense suffering and discomfort that affected their lives and their relationships. In the previous Dáil, we had the opportunity to meet some of the women affected to hear exactly what had happened to them and the effects on their lives afterwards. We debated it here and had Leaders’ Questions on the matter.

Survivors of symphysiotomy have serious and genuine concerns, despite what the Minister said. What will happen to those concerns? There are concerns about the content of the report and how little actually concerns the subject matter with so much skirting around the central issue. There are also concerns about the requirement for the contemporaneous medical records, records which are not readily available; the exclusion of oral evidence; that the terms of reference did not comply with the recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Committee; that none of the perpetrators were held to account and there was no admission of wrongdoing; that the report did not respect the integrity and credibility of all applicants; that the burden of proof required went beyond that required by courts, which the Minister disputed in his speech; the finding that some leading symphysiotomy survivors who had one did not; that the infant mortality rate was not considered by the judge; and that the radiological review used applicants’ health data without their knowledge or consent.

These are serious concerns which have been brought to the attention of the House and the Minister. What will happen to these concerns? Will they be just let slide? It is doing a complete and utter injustice to those women who have these concerns. I hope the Minister will address these in his reply.

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