Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish everyone well as we break for Christmas and thank all the staff in Leinster House for the great work they do and support they provide.

On this, the last sitting day before the Christmas break, I welcome to the Public Gallery, Finola Cassidy, the tireless campaigner from the Irish Thalidomide Association, which is a persistent and courageous group of survivors who yesterday said "As the Dáil year ends ... sadly there is no end ... to the Thalidomide saga". It has been 62 years since the drug thalidomide was withdrawn from the market. We know the awful consequences of the use of that drug for survivors. Survivors want to see an end to their endless quest for justice. Australia offered its thalidomide survivors an apology this year. The Tánaiste has been closely engaged with this so I ask him now, in December, whether he will follow the example of countries such as Australia, offer an apology and, crucially, commit to restarting negotiations with the thalidomide survivors in January, so that survivors and their surviving parents can at last see an end to their quest for justice and a resolution of their situation in the new year.

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