THE GOVERNMENT has offered to pay €2 million to 32 victims of thalidomide and has said it will make provision for special care based on assessments of their individual needs.
Minister for Health Mary Harney announced the measures yesterday following a meeting with members of the Irish Thalidomide Association, which was seeking compensation, an apology and an explanation for how the State handled the drug scandal in the 1960s.
The Government will make a once-off ex-gratia payment of €2 million (€62,500 each) to be divided equally between the Irish survivors, as “a practical expression of the Government’s sympathy”, Ms Harney said.
They will also be paid an annual lump sum of up to €3,680, in the most severe category of disability, in addition to their current payments. The sum is equivalent to an annual payment which started for German survivors in 2009.
Ms Harney also said that if an individual victim had applied for, but did not qualify for either the Disabled Drivers Tax Concession Scheme or the Motorised Transport Grant, their cases would be examined “with a view to providing an equivalent level of financial assistance to assist with their transport needs”.
The Minister also published the report prepared for her by the State Claims Agency on the compensation issue.
The report said some of the victims had “achieved and managed successful careers” but also that many were “struggling with unforeseen health and psychological issues arising from their disability”.
“It is indisputable that thalidomide survivors, and their families, have suffered greatly.”
Ms Harney said she hoped the victims would accept the offer of additional financial assistance and supports “as a fair and compassionate measure”.
She said the Attorney General concurred with legal advice given to the then government in 1975 that the State had “no legal obligation” arising from neglect on its part in respect of the injuries suffered by thalidomide victims. Ms Harney said she was satisfied that a “full and fair examination has been carried out by the State Claims Agency and that it has provided an appropriate basis for consideration and decisions by the Government today”.
Dr Paul O’Connell, consultant rheumatologist at Beaumont Hospital has agreed to conduct multi-disciplinary assessments for the victims. Carmel Buckley, a senior nursing official in the Health Service Executive, will also act as liaison for the ongoing health and personal social services needs of the victims.
Irish Thalidomide Association secretary Finola Cassidy told RTÉ the package seemed at first glance to be “wholly derisory”, amounting to a figure of just €8 per day.
Cabinet files from 1973 and 1974 indicate the Department of Health failed to immediately warn the public about the dangers of the drug when it was withdrawn by its German manufacturer in 1961 because “suspicions” about it had not been confirmed.
Children born to women who took the drug suffered problems including missing or shortened limbs, missing ears and hearing problems.
The survivors are all now in their late 40s.