O’Keeffe silence on blood tests ‘a sellout’

THE embattled Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has been accused of “selling out” by failing to criticise the call to stop blood-testing in Cork.

According to Cork North Central TD and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bernard Allen, Mr O’Keeffe was “one of the strongest supporters of a fully functioning testing centre in Cork and lobbied publicly for its establishment”, and yet has failed to voice his concern since it emerged that testing will be centralised in Dublin.

Mr Allen said: “This decision goes against the advice of two significant reports and flies in the face of international best practice, but once again second best is deemed to be good enough for the Irish health service.

“As for Minister O’Keeffe, we may now take it that his 10-year campaign to establish a fully functioning blood transfusion centre in Cork has failed. Where is he? Minster O’Keeffe now seems quite happy to stand idly by and let this happen,” he said.

Medical staff in the south of the country have reacted angrily to the Department of Health’s decision to not make blood-testing part of services at the €17 million centre to be developed at Cork University Hospital.

Former chairwoman of the Southern Health Board, Catherine Molloy, a vocal supporter of dual testing in both Dublin and Cork, has queried the cost of sending blood for testing to Scotland, after it emerged yesterday that the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) will use Scotland as a backup if extra testing is required.

“It would be interesting to price the difference between moving services to Dublin and Scotland versus them staying in Cork.

“I am very aware that we are in more cautious economic times but both the Dáil Committee on Health and Children and an independent international panel of experts both recommended that dual site testing at Cork and Kerry be continued,” said Dr Molloy.

The issue of blood services in Cork has been a source of controversy since 1999, when the IBTS decided to centralise bloodtesting in its new Dublin headquarters, only for the decision to subsequently be reversed.