Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Chambers for bringing forward this Bill. As my colleague Teachta Ó Caoláin has outlined, Sinn Féin will be supporting the Bill wholeheartedly.

While the Bill is short and simple, it is an extremely important Bill. It addresses issues that many people will be familiar with. Although the group is small the thalidomide issue is very well known and the arguments very well rehearsed. Thalidomide was used in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was withdrawn from the market in 1961 but it would be 2012 before the manufacturer, the Grünenthal Group, would issue a halfhearted and insincere apology. For 50 years they were silent. All the while people had to live with the consequences of what this drug had done to them. Families and friends had to live with it too. What was the role of the State during this whole process? It was to issue what at best could be called an ineffective recall of the drug once the devastating side effects became apparent. It was only a number of years ago that a "Prime Time" investigation exposed that the Government deliberately did not issue a public warning about the dangers of thalidomide because it believed such a move would be undesirable. The documents uncovered by that programme showed that the Government decided not to make a public announcement about the dangers of the drug and instead left it up to pharmacists and medical officers to withdraw it from the shelves. Given the roles they played in the creation and perpetuation of this scandal, one would have thought that the Grünenthal Group and the State would acknowledge in full the damage and the hurt they have caused and that they would do all they could to set things right. In 2018, however, with all that we know and all that we have found out, we have both the State and the Grünenthal Group trying to use the Statute of Limitations to deny the victims access to compensation.

I am rarely shocked in my job, but I am shocked that the Government is opposing this Bill. I urge the Minister of State to reflect on that and to perhaps come to a different conclusion. It is clear that with the State and the Grünenthal Group using the Statute of Limitations Act 1957 to deny these victims, the correct course of action for us as legislators is to amend the Statute of Limitations Act. I commend Deputy Chambers on giving us the opportunity to do that. The Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Bill 2018 seeks to amend the 1957 Act, specifically section 48 which relates to disability. The State should not be in league with big pharma and it should not allow the companies to dodge their responsibilities when it comes to payment of compensation. It is our job to fight for those affected and to hold power to account and that is what we must do in this instance.

Speaking on this Bill tonight I am reminded of those children also affected due to the use of Epilim during pregnancy. When the Minister of State looks back on the history of thalidomide he will see, as I did when preparing my remarks for this evening, that the parallels are shocking. This tells me that no lessons have been learned and that we are not capable of looking back and seeing a copy of what happened. There are so many similarities in the situations. I echo the call made by Deputy Ó Caoláin. I urge the Minister of State to examine the issue because of these parallels. Day after day we come in here and talk about scandals of the past. We all nod our heads and say: "We are absolutely certain that it will not happen again." We talk about the Magdalen laundries yet we have direct provision. Now we are talking about a historical injustice but actually the same injustice is being perpetuated. The regulators knew about the risk with sodium valproate when they were considering licensing the drug. The women were not warned that the epilepsy drug could cause birth defects and developmental problems in their babies. Sinn Féin is very proud to be active on this issue, which we have taken on. I look at the history and I see that history is about to repeat itself in a very shocking way. We should all be listening to those alarm bells.

The victims of thalidomide should, at the very least, have the right for their case to be heard before the court. I do not believe this is an unreasonable request. For a group of people who have the sympathy of the general public, and for whom we all want the very best, the very least they deserve is the opportunity to have their case heard in court. That is why we should ensure the Bill is passed.

The State, through the now defunct Irish Thalidomide Medical Board in the 1960s, failed outright to acknowledge many of those who were injured through the ingestion of thalidomide by their mothers. After 50 years victims are still emerging as a consequence of the cover-up of patient records. The role of the State over the past 50 years has been despicable. Successive Governments have failed to address this issue. Less than ten years ago, a previous Minister for Health, former Deputy Mary Harney offered a take it or leave it package of €2 million to be shared equally between the 32 survivors at the time, and a slight increase in the monthly payment. That was not good enough for the then Minister. It represented a continuation of the State's failure to do the right thing. As has been pointed out previously, this is not a growing number of people. Those affected do not have time on their side. This group is, regrettably, diminishing in numbers so this is a very time sensitive issue. It is wrong to use the Statute of Limitations against this group. I know the Minister of State was very genuine in his words and I urge him to reflect on whether it might be possible to support the Bill. Sinn Féin will support the Bill.

I commend Deputy Chambers on bringing this short, very simple, but very important and necessary legislation to the House this evening.

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