Sandra Dunne knew she was affected by thalidomide around 1970, when she was nine years old and had started attending hospitals for assessments of her arms.
Her mother told her she had, in good faith, taken two tablets containing the drug to prepare for morning sickness while pregnant.
“It affected both of my arms very badly,” Dunne says. “As I’ve got older, I’m just getting more disabled.”
Dunne is one of about a dozen unacknowledged survivors of thalidomide represented by the Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA). Her life has been profoundly affected by exposure to the drug, but she says she has never received official recognition from the State.
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Marketed as a drug that would help prevent nausea during pregnancy, thalidomide had devastating side effects for developing foetuses, creating a range of disabilities including the shortening and absence of limbs.
In 1961 there was an international withdrawal of the drug, but the Irish government did not issue a public warning about its dangers. Instead, an ineffective recall meant it remained on the shelves of some rural pharmacies, and in household medicine cabinets, until 1964.
Campaigners from the ITA met politicians at Leinster House on Wednesday, marking the 64th anniversary of that withdrawal and seeking “justice, recognition and historical truth for [their] unacknowledged members”. They say they were “blown away” by the support from TDs.
“It would mean an awful lot to me,” Dunne says of State recognition and an apology. “I really, really wanted the apology for my mother. Sadly, my mother passed away without an apology. She fought all her life for me to get recognition. She never gave up. And sadly, she died without it.”
Beyond any symbolic significance, Dunne says official recognition of her disability and access to appropriate services would make a practical difference to her life. As she gets older, she says, she is in need of more specialised services.
“What I’d like to ask of the State is: how much more can mothers do?” Dunne says. “There’s only a handful left alive – only about four or five mothers of thalidomide people left alive. What more can they do? How much more do we as survivors have to endure before they will believe [us]?”
In September 2024, the Government began the thalidomide resolution process, appointing retired High Court Judge Mr Justice Paul Gilligan to engage with survivors.
Last month, the ITA met the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to advance discussions around a resolution. There had been an “impasse” regarding the dozen or so unacknowledged survivors, but the meeting was positive and the ITA is set to meet the Government again later in the year.
As a result of Wednesday’s meeting, arranged by TDs Erin McGreehan and Pádraig O’Sullivan, the business committee is to discuss scheduling a Dáil debate on the issue before Christmas.
Finola Cassidy, a survivor of thalidomide and a spokeswoman for the ITA, feels it was important to put Wednesday’s focus on that lack of acknowledgment of her fellow members.
“I think living as an unacknowledged person, knowing that your mother has sworn affidavits telling the truth about your birth and the taking of the drug, knowing that maybe many of the mothers went to their graves without ever being accepted for the stories that they honestly told – I think that’s been a real tragedy and it’s absolute heartbreak to our unacknowledged members,” she says
Five members of the ITA laid flowers at the gates of Leinster House in tribute to the members of their community who have been lost over the years. Cassidy says they have received great support from some TDs and senators over the years, but they are still seeking closure.
“[It was] in memory in particular of Jacqui Brown, a great campaigner of ours, who a couple of years ago campaigned with us outside Leinster House and actually said to some of the journalists, ‘They’re only waiting for us to die,’” Cassidy says.
“Sadly, Jacqui did pass away earlier this year and we miss her in her campaigning and the efforts. We also lost some very special mothers. In particular, Peggy Murphy from Cork, mother to Martin Murphy. We’re heartbroken about the loss of these fabulous people. All they ever wanted was an acknowledgment of the State’s wrong and an apology.”
