This article is from page 6 of the 2013-08-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
BALLYVAUGHAN grandmother and symphysiotomy survivor, Ellen Moore, says she will not accept the redress scheme proposed by the Minister for Health, James Reilly (FG), during their face-to-face meet- ing last week.
Ellen was one of a small group of symphysiotomy survivor who met with the health minister in Dublin on Thursday.
The meeting was originally organised by the Survivors of Symphysiotomy (SOS) group because of fears that the government was preparing to renege on promises made to wave the statue of limitations for symphysiotomy sufferers earlier this year.
It know looks likely that the government is indeed looking to perform a you-turn on their promise to lift the statue for women who were given symphysiotomy without consent.
Minister Reilly instead proposed a Magdalene style redress scheme for Ellen and the other symphysiotomy survivor.
This deal would see the women receive some level of compensation from the state but there would be no admission of fault and no apology.
This proposal was rejected by Ellen and the other representatives of SOS.
“We were there to talk about the statute of limitations and he [Minister O’Reilly] said that there was some issue with that and it was still with the Attorney General,” said Ellen.
“He did seem to be effected by our stories – he and his advisors. But his proposal would mean that there would be no apology and no admission of liability, and that is something that we cannot accept.
“It seems to us that he is trying to divide and conquer [using the redress system].
“Time is on their side. We are all older women and the longer this goes on the fewer of us there is.”
Hundreds of symphysiotomies were performed on women without their consent in Irish hospitals in the 1960 and 1970.
The controvertial operations involved breaking of a women’s pelvic bone during labour – which resulted in a litany of medical complications and complications.
Ellen has undergone more than 20 operations over the last two decades and is now in near constant pain.