The prospect of compensation for symphysiotomy survivors moved one step closer last night when the second stage of Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin Private Members Bill to introduce a one year window in the Statute of Limitations passed through the Dáil unopposed.
Many of the women who underwent symphysiotomy and pubiotomy procedures without their knowledge or consent were in the Dáil to hear the Sinn Féin’s Health Spokesman introduce his Bill by saying “Lifting the statute bar – unanimously recommended by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice in June 2012 – would obviate procedural battles and ensure unfettered access for all to the courts. Judges here have no discretion in relation to the statute bar, as they do in other common law jurisdictions”.
The issue that faced the survivors of symphysiotomy procedures – carried out in Ireland between the 1940s and 1990s to aid childbirth as an alternative to a Caesarean Section – is that their right to claim compensation for symphysiotomy injuries was time-barred by the Statute of Limitations. Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin´s proposed legislation would open a one-year window to enable claims for compensation for symphysiotomy survivors to be processed through the courts.
The Government had already indicated that they would not oppose the proposed Private Members Bill, and Health Minister Dr. James Reilly received a warm reception when he announced that he would ensure that legislation to allow compensation for symphysiotomy survivors would be put in place by the end of the year. “Actions must bring closure for those who have been harmed, and who we cannot give back their lives,” he said. “But we can ensure resources flow to them and not elsewhere.
A spokesman for the Department of Health believes some work needs to be done on the drafting of the legislation for it to pass through the committee stage and into law, but Dr. Reilly indicated in his speech that he would brief the Government further once he receives the final independent Walsh Report.
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