Following Wednesday’s State apology by Taoiseach Micheál Martin to survivors of abuse in industrial and reformatory schools, another such apology is now reported to be imminent, this time to the approximately 40 survivors of the thalidomide scandal of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Following a meeting with Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris on Wednesday evening, the Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA) confirmed it had received a Government commitment to a formal apology at the conclusion of an ongoing process. As the ITA noted with some understatement, the process has lasted six long decades.
This will be the eighth State apology since Bertie Ahern’s landmark address to Dáil Éireann in 1999, when he offered the first formal acknowledgment of institutional abuse. Since then, every taoiseach has added to the canon of atonement. Brian Cowen apologised on the publication of the Ryan Report; Enda Kenny to Magdalene survivors; Leo Varadkar to those failed by CervicalCheck and to men criminalised for their homosexuality; Simon Harris to Stardust victims; Micheál Martin to former residents of mother and baby institutions and county home and now Martin, once again this week.
Cynics may feel that no matter how sincere the sentiments expressed, the law of diminishing returns applies to these apologies. Such criticism should be tempered by the evidence of how meaningful such acknowledgments of official wrongdoing are to those who suffered as a result. But it must also be acknowledged that, despite the rhetoric, the State’s subsequent approach to redress for victims has often fallen well short of their demands.
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The thalidomide case carries a particular distinction, since the State’s response can be measured and found wanting by international comparison. Thalidomide was withdrawn from most markets in 1961 after it was established beyond doubt that it caused catastrophic birth defects. In Ireland, it continued to be sold until 1964. Those additional years of availability, after the evidence was clear, represent a specific and documented State failure.
Germany’s decision to establish a dedicated survivors’ foundation as long ago as 1972, providing ongoing indexed support to those affected, stands in stark contrast to Ireland’s survivors, many of whom did not live to see this moment. ITA spokeswoman Finola Cassidy said before Wednesday’s meeting that “no one else should die without an apology”. That such an urgent statement is still needed in 2026 tells its own story. The apology, when it comes, will be welcome and warranted. But as has been observed too many times in this particular history, words and actions are not the same thing. The real test of the State’s sincerity lies in what follows.
