I welcome the announcement by Minister James Reilly that the thirty five women who were excluded from the Lourdes Hospital Redress Scheme will be compensated. These women were excluded on age grounds alone, having suffered unnecessary oophorectomies (removal of ovaries) at the hands of Michael Neary. Under this new scheme, awards of between 60,000e and 100,000e will be provided to the women.
This is an issue which I have been working on since my appointment to the Seanad over two years ago and during that time I have met with many of the women involved and have seen their distress and hurt both as a result of the unnecessary procedures they endured and also from their exclusion from the redress scheme.
The Programme for Government promised closure on this issue and I am pleased that finally these women can begin to put this distressing chapter of their lives behind them.
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