A Cork Thalidomide survivor is leading fresh calls for a State apology and compensation for victims of the scandal
The drug was freely administered in the treatment of morning sickness in pregnancy in Ireland from 1959 but it caused catastrophic birth defects
Ireland has just 40 survivors including Finola Cassidy from Cobh whose parents set up a support group for other parents
Finola says the State has never fully acknowledged its "neglect"
"The Government, who had been notified of the dangers of the drug, chose not to withdraw it - deliberately chose not to withdraw it. Dr John O'Connell, a very famous TD back in the sixties and seventies, who helped our parents, he was able to walk into a rural pharmacy in Ireland and buy it over the counter three years after it should have been withdrawn. It's the neglect on the part of the state that has brought us to the campaign that we've been running for 15 years"
