Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to briefly mention an issue I have raised in the House previously relating to the Irish Thalidomide Association. I want to put on record my thanks to the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, for agreeing to meet the association. While it was somewhat delayed, that meeting took place yesterday. Having spoken to Ms Finola Cassidy this morning, I believe there are the green shoots of a new plan for addressing the terrible unfairness suffered by the survivors of thalidomide, who are decreasing in number. They are now all in their 60s and some have been lost already. This is also important for their parents in particular, many of whom have passed on with the guilt that was attached to having taken the thalidomide drug. The Minister for Health took the time to talk to me this morning and I am grateful for that. He is hopeful that we will find a way to deal with the litigation and other issues on an ongoing basis. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has also been engaged in this process. It is very important that the Government understands that the narrative that has been coming from the Department of Health for the last number of years on this is wrong. The Department has gotten it wrong. The number of survivors is small - fewer than 40 - and they are entitled to justice. The Government failed to withdraw this drug from the market in a timely manner in the 1960s and as a result, we have citizens and residents of this country who have lived with lifelong deformities. It is only fair that they get a resolution.