THE TWO support groups for survivors of the thalidomide scandal have said they did not accept the compensation package announced by Minister for Health Mary Harney earlier this week.
The Irish Thalidomide Association and the Irish Thalidomide Survivors Society said they were not happy with the package, which aims to improve on the original compensation arranged in 1975 for survivors.
Children born to women who took thalidomide while they were pregnant in the early 1960s suffered problems including missing or shortened limbs, missing ears and hearing problems.
The 32 survivors are all now in their late-40s.
The compensation package announced by Ms Harney included lump sums of €62,500 for each of the 32 people affected, plus an annual lump sum of up to €3,680 each, based on recommendations made by the State Claims Agency.
It also included a provision for special care packages to be provided to survivors following individual assessments.
Speaking yesterday, Ms Harney said there was no legal obligation on the State to provide compensation. She said in all the meetings she had with survivors, they had stressed the need for care packages around their individual needs and these would be provided.
One of the organisations had told her they were very happy with what was on offer, she said.
Finola Cassidy, chairwoman of the Irish Thalidomide Association representing 26 survivors, said they were “shell-shocked and very disappointed” with the deal.
She said the association had made absolutely no contribution to the deal put on the table. Survivors had not been listened to in any constructive manner, she said, and the way the deal was presented as a fait accompli had “piled insult on top of injury”.
“The unprecedented deterioration of our bodies has made us terrified for our future,” she said. Ms Cassidy said they would recommend to their members that the deal be rejected.
Carmel Daly McDonnell, spokeswoman for the thalidomide society, said the group had told Ms Harney they would neither accept nor reject the package because it was incomplete. “We were not happy at all with it,” she said.
The society was also “pretty disgusted” the Minister had said there was no legal obligation to compensate survivors. “They are culpable,” she said.
The group had not accepted anything and wanted further talks, Ms Daly McDonnell said, and although they welcomed the provisions of care packages, it was essential that they would be put on a legal footing.
“The care package is the same one offered in 1975; it was never delivered,” she said.
Separately, legal advisers to the Irish Thalidomide Association have said the 1975 compensation package may be legally invalid.
The original package paid to survivors combined compensation from German manufacturers of the drug, Chemie Grunenthal, the German government and the Irish State. It included lump sums of between €6,600 and €27,300 and an index-linked monthly allowance for life of between €40 and €120.
Solicitor Raymond Bradley, of Malcolm Law, who has negotiated with the State in relation to compensation packages for other groups, said there was no evidence the package had been approved by a High Court judge.
In Ireland, compensation packages given by the State to children must be examined and approved by a High Court judge, he said.
“If it was not approved by the High Court, it was invalid and never happened,” Mr Bradley said.
He said it was open to survivors to sue the State for compensation.
A spokeswoman for the Minister said she intended to consider the legal issues raised and would revert to the association at an early date.