State apology urged over thalidomide as survivors meet Taoiseach and Tánaiste

Mary Clarken (left), her daughter Sharon (right) and other members of the Irish Thalidomide Association meet with Mr Harris and Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Wednesday. File picture: RTÉ

A 96-year-old woman whose daughter was harmed by thalidomide has called for a long-overdue State apology as survivors prepare to meet the Taoiseach and Tánaiste again on Wednesday.

Mary Clarken urged the Government: “Everybody knows that healing can only properly begin with an apology. Even 60 years of trauma can be erased by a heartfelt 'we're sorry'.” 

Thalidomide was prescribed to pregnant women in the late 1950s and early 1960s to stop morning sickness. However, it caused severe and life-changing birth defects in thousands of babies worldwide, while many more died or were stillborn. 

Over 51,000 packets of the drug, under the brand name Softenon, were sold here in 1961. Although it was withdrawn from sale worldwide that year, sales in Ireland did not officially stop until 1962.

Ms Clarken wrote to then taoiseach Simon Harris in 2024 seeking an apology, but to no avail. She has shared the letter publicly as her daughter Sharon and other members of the Irish Thalidomide Association meet with Mr Harris and Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

She wrote: “I was born in 1930, when the State was new and our mood was hopeful. Things were not perfect, there were gombeen men galore, but we ignored them because most of us wanted the same thing, a country to be proud of.” 

When Ms Clarken was pregnant with Sharon, she was given thalidomide. Leaving it on sale in Ireland, she said, “long after it should have been removed, was a shameful and reprehensible act which brought unnecessary pain and suffering to many newborns and their families". 

Irish Thalidomide Association spokeswoman Finola Cassidy said: “Our parents are in the forefront of our thoughts as we strive for justice.” Survivors have waited over 60 years for an apology, she said. 

She said: “In years of research, we now know the misogynistic and deliberate decision taken by the Irish State not to credit Irish women in the 1960s with the ability to make the right choices for themselves and their families.

The Irish State took the deliberate decision; don't alert them of dangers lest they get hysterical about what their innocent actions may lead to. 

"Better indeed to allow them to live with a lifetime of unfounded guilt.” 

The guilt and trauma for many has been compounded by the State's inaction since then, said Ms Cassidy. “It costs them nothing to deny and delay justice. To run down the clock as the cost to the Exchequer might diminish as we die.”