Martin apologises to haemophiliacs

HEALTH Minister Micheál Martin has apologised and expressed profound regret to haemophiliacs and their families for the pain and suffering caused by the blood contamination scandal.

The Government is to refer the contents of the Lindsay Tribunal report into the affair to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Lindsay Tribunal was established to investigate the infection of Irish haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis C as a result of contaminated blood products supplied by the Blood Transfusion Service.

To date, 79 people have died as a result of being infected with HIV and hepatitis C.

Mr Martin said referring the report to the DPP proves the seriousness with which the Government views the matter. The Oireachtas had a duty to ensure such a tragedy could never be repeated, the Minister said during a debate in the Dáil last night.

The Government proposed a motion acknowledging the extraordinary suffering endured by the haemophilia community and accepting the findings of the report by Judge Alison Lindsay.

The Government motion is broadly in line with the key demands set out by the Irish Haemophilia Society.

The society regards the report as deeply flawed because of a perceived failure to apportion blame.

But there is no reference in the motion to the establishment of another tribunal to inquire into the international drug firms which produced the infected blood.

Mr Martin is due to meet the IHS next month and said yesterday he believed it would be possible to mount a useful investigation into the affair.

Fine Gael health spokesperson Olivia Mitchell said the Lindsay Report never got to the truth behind the scandal.

The tribunal cost 12 million and took three years, yet it is still not known what decision, moment or action led to the 260 people being infected with HIV or hepatitis C or both by the State, Deputy Mitchell said.

“However, the real travesty of the report is that the tribunal that was set up, at least in part, to serve the purpose of ‘truth commission’ for the Haemophilia community was, in fact, a negative experience for them,” she said.

Labour health spokesperson Liz McManus said many questions remained unanswered following the publication of the tribunal report.

“Great hopes were pinned on this tribunal, great effort put in to make it live up to its possibility. Sadly the outcome has not lived up to expectations,” she said.

Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the failure to prosecute those responsible for the blood contamination scandals in this country contrasts poorly with other countries which experienced similar scenarios.

“In France and Portugal, those involved in blood contamination scandals have gone to trial for fraud and criminal negligence for failing to adequately screen blood and for propagating contagious diseases,” the Sinn Féin deputy said.

The debate was adjourned last night and continues today.