The Irish Times view on mother-and-baby homes: GSK must take responsibility

Explanations offered by GlaxoSmithKline do nothing to quash the drug group’s responsibility for vaccine and baby-milk trials on children living in mother-and-baby homes that went on for decades from the 1930s into the 1970s. Some 1,148 children were involved in clinical trials that included vaccines against diphtheria, measles and other serious conditions.

The commission of investigation into the homes was clear in its finding that ethical and regulatory standards were breached, not least because parents or guardians never gave consent for trials. But GSK, the 21st-century successor to trial companies Wellcome and Glaxo, insists personal responsibility for such failings lay only with the deceased Irish researchers who carried out the tests. This is self-serving legalistic nonsense, obscuring the group’s central role as a manufacturer of trial products and the commercial gain it sought with unapproved tests on vulnerable children. It ill-behoves the group to evade financial responsibility for what was perpetrated on some of the weakest in society.

GSK has successfully spurned the Government’s push for reparations. Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman was advised to stress the moral obligation on the group “to do the right thing” after the commission’s report. Yet key files, released under Freedom of Information, show his entreaties on payments were fruitless. GSK refused to countenance any contribution to the €800 million State redress scheme. The group has maintained that stance ever since, compounding the wrongs of Wellcome and Glaxo and raising sharp questions over its willingness to confront this historical legacy.

Health screening

Yes, GSK provides information on trials to mother-and-baby home participants who seek it. But the group refused health screening, insisting there was no evidence of injury to children. It also ruled out proactively giving personal data to all participants, citing “significant ethical concerns” about contacting individuals without their consent with unsolicited information. Such concerns must be measured against corporate ethical failings in the conduct of trials without consent and its refusal to consider reparations.

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As O’Gorman struggles to strike a deal on financial redress with Catholic and Church of Ireland bodies that ran the homes, his challenge remains to secure an appreciable religious contribution to the State scheme. Although two years have passed since the commission reported, a deal is still not close. No further delay is justified.

Yet questions persist. Amid controversy over the exclusion of people who spent less than six months in homes, the prospective inclusion of married residents sparks fresh anxiety. There is time still to fix this. Short-stay residents should be included, to the greatest extent possible. Those who stand to benefit inadvertently should not.