New inquiry must deal with scandal

The overdue Dáil debate on the report of the Lindsay Tribunal into the infection of haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis C produced a call for another investigation into at least one aspect of this appalling episode - one of the worst in the history of the State.

Given the largely inadequate report which emanated from the tribunal, it would be totally unacceptable for the Minister for Health, Micheál Martin, to deny that call.

The Lindsay report was exceptionally economic in providing answers to the fundamental questions raised as to how 79 people died, and others are still traumatised, because of the carelessness and ineptitude of those responsible in the Blood Transfusion Service.

Inexplicably, Judge Alison Lindsay, who presided over the tribunal, decided it would be inappropriate that any of them should be held responsible before a court of law. On that premise, she declined to refer her conclusions to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It was a wholly unacceptable decision on her part, and one rightly criticised by the Irish Haemophilia Society.

The society was also justified in criticising the Government and elements in the opposition benches for the manner in which their case has been treated.

Belatedly, the Minister for Health apologised last month and expressed profound regret to haemophiliacs and their families for the pain and suffering caused by the blood contamination scandal.

The Government eventually took a decision that it would refer the report to the DPP.

Last month, in a disgraceful display of political posturing, a debate on the scandal had to be deferred because of a row between the Labour Party and the independent grouping of Sinn Féin, the Greens and other TDs, over the allocation of Dáil time.

It was symptomatic of the treatment which this entire controversy has been treated by the State, and indicative of the insensitivity displayed towards the victims and their families who have grievously suffered at the hands of the State.

Even during yesterday’s debate, some members of the Irish Haemophilia Society were visibly upset at the level of attendance by TDs in the Dáil, and the fact that some absented themselves during the discussion. It is normal practice for deputies to leave the chamber, but given the sensitive nature of yesterday’s proceedings, greater discretion could have been exercised.

The Lindsay Tribunal took three years, and cost

12 million, to produce a report which left more questions unanswered than it answered, and found nobody to be culpable.

Labour’s spokeswoman on health, Liz McManus, issued the demand for a new investigation into the blood scandal. She was also critical, as were others, of how the tribunal failed to investigate the international pharmaceutical firms which caused most of the HIV and hepatitis C infections and should be the subject of another inquiry.

The most glaring outcome of the Lindsay Tribunal was, essentially, that there was no conclusive result. No one was guilty for some many deaths, and that is a totally unacceptable position.

Responsibility has to be laid where it should be, and until such time as that happens justice will not have been served.

The lesson to be learned from Lindsay is that another inquiry will have to have terms of reference which will allow, indeed insist upon, all aspects of this scandal to be scrutinised, so that it may ultimately be closed.