Prosecutions unlikely over tainted blood deaths

IT is unlikely that anyone will be prosecuted in connection with the deaths of 79 people who were given contaminated blood products, following the publication of the Lindsay Tribunal report yesterday.

The 600-page report into the infection of more than 260 haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis C criticised the Blood Bank and the Department of Health for their parts in the scandal.

The report castigated the Irish Blood Transfusion Service Board (then the Blood Transfusion Service Board) for delays in recalling one of its blood products, Factor IX, which infected seven haemophiliacs with HIV.

The Blood Bank failed to inform the relevant authorities, such as the Department of Health, about Factor IX, the report concludes. But it also found that the Department of Health’s supervision of the BTSB was lacking in a number of areas.

Tribunal chairperson Judge Alison Lindsay declined a request to pass on her report to the Director of Public Prosecutions, saying it would not be appropriate to do so.

Health Minister Micheál Martin said it was too early to make definitive conclusions on the report, leaving the door open for the Government to refer the report to the DPP.

The Irish Haemophilia Society had asked that if the inquiry revealed anything leading to criminal charges, then it should be referred to the DPP.

Following the publication, the IBTS apologised unreservedly to the people infected and their families for the suffering and distress endured. “The IBTS acknowledges and regrets all death and injury caused by products that were supposed to bring a better quality of life to people but which regrettably did the opposite,” its statement said.

The health minister said the Government would implement the report’s recommendations and would meet with the Irish Haemophilia Society to discuss the report and further action.

The Irish Haemophilia Society said the report had found there were serious failures on the part of State agencies in relation to the haemophilia community.

IHS administrator Rosemary Daly said the organisation and its legal team were now examining the report.

The society will be coming out with a more detailed response in the coming days and is expected to disagree with a number of findings in the report.

But its emphasis now is on ensuring a full inquiry is set up to investigate the role of pharmaceutical companies in the infection of haemophilia sufferers through contaminated blood products.

Minister Martin said he was committed to another statutory inquiry but problems existed and the precise details needed to be finalised.