Govt response to thalidomide scandal is 'chicken feed' - Kerry farmer
Ireland's youngest thalidomide survivor has responded to a government statement surrounding the thalidomide scandal.
"What the Irish government has given us is paltry, it's only chicken feed," said John Stack, who is a beef farmer from Tarbert, Co. Kerry.
The statement expressed sympathy for the victims and the "hardships" they endured but did not include an apology or an acknowledgement of responsibility for the state's role in the thalidomide scandal.
Thalidomide was widely prescribed by doctors in the late 1950s and early 1960s to treat morning sickness in pregnant women, but was recalled after reports found evidence of the drugs contribution to birth defects.
It caused fetal impairments such as limb difference; sight loss; hearing loss; facial paralysis and impacted internal organs when taken during the stages of early pregnancy, but it took five years before doctors made the connection between the drug and its subsequent impacts.
Stack was born in January, 1963 with life alternating physical defects / impediments caused by the medication, 13 months after its official recall in November 1961.
"I'm the youngest affected, I shouldn't have been affected at all, because they [government] didn't take it [thalidomide] off a year and a half after they were supposed to have taken it off.
"They were supposed to have taken it off November 30, 1961, and they didn't take it off until 1962. I was born in 1963, I shouldn't be affected and I shouldn't be talking to you here today," he said.
The government's statement announced an enhanced package of health and social care supports for the survivors, but for Stack, there was "no point talking about fairy tales".
"We need a proper health care package. It has to be statutory-based, otherwise it's no good," Stack added.
"If it's not legally binding, the next government could come in and change it. It has to be legally binding so there's no rowing back on it then," he stressed.
The Kerry native is married with three adult children and now farms alongside his son.
When asked if he had access to any disability supports to ameliorate his farm practices, he said: "No, nothing. I have an [adapted] car alright, but every disabled person is entitled to that."
When speaking of how thalidomide has affected his ability to farm, the vice chair of Kerry IFA said:
"It has limited my capacity of course, but I have managed my way around it."
He baulked at the idea that his disability may have affected his sense of independence ''no no no, I'm on the go the whole time".
On top of his IFA work, Stack chairs the Irish Thalidomide Association, which advocates on behalf of the 40 remaining survivors in the country.
He spoke candidly about the organisation's ambitions and was unequivocal in his message to government: "We need fair compensation and a proper apology, not the measly half apology they sent out, that's no good.
"Last week, they invited us to a photo opportunity, but a photo opp is no good without any substance. It was all for show, it was performative.
"All I'll say is we're here and we're prepared to negotiate, all we want is a fair chance to negotiate. We haven't spoken to the government since June of last year."
Stack remains hopeful that a resolution will be found and believes his plight will be understood by his fellow farmers:
"I'd be well-known in the farming community, I have travelled the country fighting for farmers, I'm fighting now for the IFA members - I'm fighting for farmers all my life," he said.
