I welcome the announcement that Bríd O’Flaherty has been appointed chair of the sodium valproate inquiry. I have worked with the families involved for the past eight years on this matter. I acknowledge the work that the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, has done on this and the fact that he has kept his commitment. He knows as well as I do - and we agree on much of this - that it is long overdue. In particular, I commend OACS Ireland and Epilepsy Ireland for the work they have done. I also commend all the families on their tenacity and on sticking with it. The Minister will be aware that this is only the beginning of this phase of the journey for truth. We need to find out who knew what, when they knew it and why nobody did anything about it. Hundreds of children across this State have ended up with disabilities because their mothers were prescribed Epilim when they were pregnant. A terrible injustice was done here. I welcome today's announcement and I look forward to the inquiry.

I thank the Deputy for her words. We launched the inquiry this morning. These families have fought for many years to get the truth. They will now get the truth. We have appointed the independent chair. She will be an excellent chair and will bring a robust set of skills and experiences to this. First and foremost, the inquiry will put the voices and experiences of the families - the mums, dads, sons and daughters, boys and girls - front and centre. We will get an official timeline and we will look at the resources the inquiry has. This may very well be the first step as we move on and make sure that people get all the answers and supports they need.