asked the Minister for Health the number of thalidomide victims in Ireland at the latest available date.

13.

asked the Minister for Health the cost to the State to date of the provision of treatment and medical appliances to thalidomide victims.

With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 13 together.

There are no definitive figures of the numbers of thalidomide victims now in Ireland. A survey undertaken in 1962 by the Medical Research Council revealed that about 53 babies born during the thalidomide period had deformities which might be ascribed to the ingestion of that drug by the mothers.

As regards the question of the cost to the State of treatment and medical appliances for these children, this would be extremely difficult to ascertain. First, there is the difficulty of establishing the identity of the children whose handicap is clearly due to the ingestion of thalidomide by the mother and further there is the problem of going through health board records over many years to establish the frequency and cost of services provided. I do not think I would be justified at this juncture in asking the health boards to undertake this work.

Could the Minister state the number of claims at present before the German company on behalf of thalidomide victims? Would this not give some more accurate idea of the number of cases?

84 persons have applied. The information concerning them is a matter for the Department of Foreign Affairs who transmitted the information to the representatives of the German manufacturers.