It has been 18 months since the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, committed to holding an inquiry into the valproate scandal but still there are no terms of reference or timeline for an inquiry and there is no HSE disability pathway in place for families that have been harmed. This has been raised with the Tánaiste directly by many of my colleagues in the Dáil over a long period of time but he has given no clear response. The families who have suffered for decades deserve the truth. The hundreds of children who were born in this State with serious health issues as a result of the prescribing of this drug deserve the truth. When are we going to see the terms of reference, 18 months after they were promised? When will we know the timeline for this inquiry?

This is an important issue and I appreciate that Deputy Doherty and his colleagues have raised it previously. I do not have an up-to-date report on that but I will make sure that I get one from the Department of Health and that the Deputy gets an update either today or tomorrow.