Social Affairs

Government’s expression of sympathy is not an apology, says Irish Thalidomide Association

Irish Thalidomide Association expresses anger over a statement issued by the Coalition leaders last week

Dr Austin O'Carroll, Sharon Clarken, Sandra Dunne and Finola Cassidy. The Irish Thalidomide Association has offered a formal response to a letter received from Government last week. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Simran Kathuria
Tue Jul 16 2024 - 20:04

The Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA) has demanded a proper apology from the Government, which it says was not contained in a letter provided to it last week. The group on Tuesday expressed anger over a statement issued by the Coalition leaders last week, saying “sympathy is not apology”.

“To say that the letter caused shock and upset would be an understatement because the letter excluded so much that is important to the Irish Thalidomide Association members,” said ITA spokeswoman Finola Cassidy. “The word apology does not appear in this letter at all. It does not enter even the script of this letter. Expression of sympathy and general regret is not an apology. That’s why we are so upset.”

Thalidomide was introduced to counter morning sickness in the mid-1950s but was withdrawn from most markets in 1961 after widespread evidence of it leading to birth defects. However, it was retained on the shelves in Ireland until 1964.

A statement from Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman was issued last week after a Cabinet meeting, at which an enhanced package of supports for remaining survivors was announced.

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The association released a statement setting out various reasons why an apology is owed to survivors, including the failure to recall the drug in 1961, the State’s failure to properly regulate Thalidomide unlike other nations, and a failure to deliver on a healthcare package promised in 1975.

“It has been 15 years of this campaign and now we want a fair deal,” Ms Cassidy said. “We want the Government to hear. The package announced last week is again a fake promise just like the one given to our parents back in the 1960s and 1970s.”

ITA member Sharon Clarken, who represents mothers and survivors abroad, said: “We are demanding a proper apology from the Irish Government from what happened then. The current deal is meaningless. What use does a free bus pass do?”

Engagement between the Government representatives and ITA members has been ongoing since April of last year, but the association says there has not been a constructive outcome. “They need to listen to us. Excluding any reference to our unacknowledged survivors is not an apology. We feel strongly about the neglect of our unacknowledged members,” said Ms Cassidy.