Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree that the Minister needs to come to the House to address the CAP issue. It is very worrying for farming. The substantive issue I want to talk about now, however, is the presentation that was made in the audiovisual room earlier this morning. It was in connection with the drug called valproate and its impact in respect of foetal anticonvulsant syndrome, FACS. We heard from parents who were advised to take this drug and indeed for whom it was insisted that they take it while they were pregnant. They now see the impact it has had on their children. The teratogenic effects of valproate were first reported in the 1980s and have been widely accepted since the mid-1990s. I am calling for an investigation of the historical impact of valproate. That has to be done. No more than what we have been hearing in the past couple of days in respect of cervical screening and the huge cover-up that was done, all the people who were prescribing this drug knew of its effects and kept this from expectant mothers. Those mothers ended up having children with severe disabilities. There needs to be a thorough investigation.I want the Minister to come to the House to talk about FACS, its implications, the possibility of establishing a redress scheme - as has been done in France - the risk reduction measures that need to be put in place and the overall service needs of these children and their parents. It is not acceptable that there are 1,300 children on the waiting list at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin. I want a full debate on this matter in the House because it will take much longer to deal with it than the two minutes I have available to me now.