Group rejects redress plan for symphysiotomy

Members of the Survivors of Symphysiotomy group have rejected the Government’s redress plan.

The Government has refused to apologise over their suffering and insisted victims give up legal challenges in order to receive redress from a €34m fund.

Some 350 survivors still alive would receive between €50,000-€150,000 under the move.

Symphysiotomies were carried out on an estimated 1,500 women in Ireland in a number of hospitals from the 1940s to the 1980s.

The surgical procedure involved cutting cartilage holding the pelvis together during childbirth. Many women suffered chronic pain, incontinence, mobility problems and trauma.

At extraordinary general meetings in Cork and Dublin over the weekend SoS members mandated the national executive to demand a better deal from the Government.

Chairwoman Marie O’Connor said the vote was unanimous. “Our members have voted to reject Government plans for a grace and favour scheme that cuts corners on fairness and is based on the myth that these operations were appropriate,” she said.

Ms O’Connor said there had never been an official admission that symphysiotomy was wrong. “This determination not to acknowledge the truth, which has underpinned the State’s approach to this issue since 1999, will be scrutinised by the UN Human rights Committee in Geneva on July 14,” she said.

There are concerns that under the Government’s plan, there would be no independent adjudication of awards, no independent individualised assessment of injuries, and women would be required to sign away their legal rights.