A support group representing hundreds of women who underwent "brutal" operations as an alternative to Caesarean section has called for a public inquiry into use of the procedure.
The Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) group said it had not received any explanation from the State or the medical profession despite repeated requests.
In the Dáil yesterday, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, ruled out a statutory inquiry into the use of the procedure but said he was willing to meet the women affected.
In a significant move, it emerged yesterday that the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has agreed that "in view of considerable disquiet" over the operations, individual women should be given a full explanation by an informed medical practitioner based on their clinical records.
Evidence emerged recently that the operation was practised on a much larger scale in Irish hospitals than previously thought between the 1950s and 1980s.
Many of the women say their consent was never sought for the operations and they are now suffering from a range of conditions including incontinence, acute back pain and mobility problems.
Symphysiotomies, described as "brutal" and "barbaric" by the SOS group, was often performed in Irish maternity hospitals during obstructed labour and were aimed at permanently widening the pelvis.
It involved sawing through the woman's pubic bone either immediately before or, in some cases, after the birth of her child.
Figures show that 348 of the operations were carried out in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda between 1950 and 1983, while hundreds more were carried out in maternity hospitals in Dublin and Cork. Many of the women have only discovered in the last year, after obtaining hospital records, that a symphysiotomy was performed on them.
Mrs Matilda Behan (72) who underwent the operation in 1958, said the group had not received any satisfactory answers over the last 1½ years on why the procedures were carried out.
"Our questions have been dismissed as rubbish. I've lived through hell for the last 45 years and so have other women. I hope the Government will listen and that people are held responsible for what happened."
The group yesterday met Opposition health spokespersons in an effort to build up support for a public inquiry into the practice.
Sinn Féin TD, Mr Arthur Morgan, said he fully supported the group's calls for a public inquiry, while Green Party chairman, Mr John Gormley, called on the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children to hold a special meeting on the issue.
