The family of a critically ill hepatitis C victim received confirmation on Christmas Eve of a compensation package believed to be in the region of €1 million.
This followed an appeal by the family to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, for confirmation of the deal through The Irish Times on Tuesday.
The husband of Ms Sylvia O'Leary, Mr Des O'Leary, described it as being "a bit little and a bit too late".
Ms O'Leary has been unconscious since Saturday, suffering from renal and kidney failure, and is in intensive care in Cork University Hospital. She is unaware that the agreement has been finalised.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health told The Irish Times that a letter was sent on Christmas Eve with details of the payable order. For technical reasons the date on the order is December 30th.
Earlier this week Mr O'Leary, of Ballincollig, Cork, accused the Minister for Health of delaying "signing off" on an agreed compensation package for his wife because she was near death.
This has been strenuously denied by the Department of Health.
"We came to an agreement on December 2nd," said the spokeswoman. "Because it was outside the terms of the compensation tribunal it had to go to the Attorney General and the Department of Finance.
"We did not get final agreement from the Attorney General until December 18th, and it then had to go to the Department of Finance. We were still operating on the information we had on December 2nd about the woman's health.
"We only got a fax from the solicitor on Monday saying the woman's condition had significantly deteriorated. The Minister got on to the Department of Finance and was told everything was fine and it would be finalised first thing in the new year.
"The Minister himself moved to get it finalised on Christmas Eve. There was never any question that it would not have happened."
However, Ms Melissa Gowan, the family's solicitor, said that it was only when the media were contacted about the situation last Monday that the Minister made a firm commitment to honour the agreement.
"It is too late for my wife," said Mr O'Leary. "They really upset her in the last couple of weeks. She just went downhill. Sylvia literally cried day in and day out.
"All she wanted was a small bit of dignity. She needed her husband with her 24 hours a day when it would have been so much easier to have nursing."
He said Sylvia (32) was promised home help, a stair lift and nursing care, but nothing concrete ever came out of his dealings with the Department of Health.
Doctors at Cork University Hospital are attempting to stabilise her so that she will be fit to travel to England for a third liver transplant operation.
She previously underwent a transplant in 1991 and in March of this year had a second operation in King's College, London.