The government is to compensate 35 former patients of the Lourdes Hospital who had their ovaries removed unnecessarily by Dr. Michael Neary.

The women were excluded from the original Lourdes Hospital Redress Scheme on age grounds.

Under the new scheme the women will be given awards of between 60 thousand and 100 thousand Euro.

Announcing the compensation scheme, the Health Minister James Reilly said he was conscious of the pain they had suffered because of the unnecessary operations, but also because of their exclusion from the original redress scheme.