MEMBERS OF the Catholic Church and the medical profession who supported symphysiotomies were sharply criticised by Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl.
He said “any Catholic zealot who pursued these practices was no servant of the church and was not acting in a Christian manner”.
Mr Ó Fearghaíl said those involved should consider their position in terms of their view of Christianity and the church.
Consideration should also be given to whether the procedure was “a feature of the medical arrogance and godlike authority” given to people in the senior echelons of the Irish medical profession.
“The attitude was doctor knows, doctor says, doctor is always right and doctor cannot be challenged,” Mr Ó Fearghaíl added. “One would hope we have moved a long way from that situation.”
The State, he said, had to offer a compensation package to the dwindling group of women victims who needed it to live out their lives in comfort.
Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who received cross-party praise for his work on the issue, said it was a sad and historic occasion.
It was the first time that the Dáil heard statements on the use of symphysiotomy and pubiotomy, “that barbaric practice which inflicted so much pain, distress and disability on so many Irish women”.
It was sad that it had taken so very long for “this human rights issue” to be acknowledged in the Dáil in a substantive manner.
Mr Ó Caoláin said the infliction of symphysiotomies on women in Ireland was one of the greatest medical scandals, not only here but on an international scale.
It was a clinical scandal on a par with the clerical scandals exposed in the past two decades.
Mr Ó Caoláin criticised “the effort by the medical establishment and by previous governments to conceal the true nature and extent of this abuse of the bodies and of the rights of Irish women”.
Fine Gael TD Heather Humphreys said some victims had to endure tremendous suffering for over 40 or 50 years.
Symphysiotomies, she told the Dáil, were carried out on more than 1,500 women in Ireland between 1944 and 1992.
It was said that it was used in exceptional circumstances and its use declined from the mid-1960s on, except in the case of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, where it remained in practice until 1984, she added.
Labour TD Anne Ferris said barbaric acts were inflicted unnecessarily on women who were at their most vulnerable.
“At a time when joy for a newborn was to be expected,” she added, “women were subjected to a procedure that would alter the rest of their lives.”
Ms Ferris said victims had suffered a wide range of short- and long-term complications included walking difficulties, haematoma, incontinence, infections and pelvic joint pain, among others.
“I remember well the indignity of having to be shaved, being given an enema and having an episiotomy, all to spare the blushes of the male doctors,” she added. “Little did I realise at the time that the situation was worse for many women.”