Varadkar rules out restrictions on hepatitis C and HIV payouts

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar says he has no proposals to introduce legislation to restrict the powers of the hepatitis C and HIV compensation tribunal to make awards to relatives of those infected with the conditions. However the Department of Health confirmed this weekend that proposals for such changes were drawn up by the former minister Mary Harney a number of years ago.

The department has estimated internally that such restrictions could reduce the future cost of the tribunal by up to €785 million.

There are currently about 500 claims made for compensation by relatives of those infected with hepatitis C and/or HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) from contaminated blood products awaiting a hearing before the tribunal.

The Irish Times reported last month that an actuarial forecast given by the department to the Government over the summer suggested that the ultimate cost of the tribunal could be as much as €2.3 billion.

The department submission said the actuarial forecast had predicted that two-thirds of all future expenditure would go on awards to relatives of persons who were infected with hepatitis C or HIV but who had not contracted the conditions themselves. “According to this projection, as much money will eventually be spent on awards to never-infected relatives as to infected people,” the department said in its submission.

A redacted version of this submission, which was published by the Government last month as part of its comprehensive review of expenditure, revealed that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform had proposed in 2011 "closing off options and securing savings from claims or potential claims from family members" through legislation, if necessary.

An unredacted version of this submission, which has been seen by The Irish Times, said that the "previous administration" gave its approval to draft a Bill to amend the hepatitis C compensation tribunal acts.

It said that these proposals would have preserved all aspects of the existing compensation scheme for infected persons but would have ended any awards arising from future but not current claims made by “never-infected relatives”.

The unredacted submission said that legislation to this effect had been drafted by the department of health but that it did not progress. “It is predicted that the combined effect of the proposed amendments, if implemented, would reduce the future costs of the tribunal by between €430 million and €785 million.

“However, it is unlikely that there would be any savings in the first few years after the passage of legislation,” the department told the Government in its submission in August, “as there are currently approximately 500 claims from relatives awaiting hearing in the tribunal and the legislation would only apply to future claims.”

Asked to comment on the submission, Mr Varadkar said: “I have no proposals to make changes to the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Acts or to alter the terms of the hepatitis C/HIV tribunal.”

The department said that the reference to the draft Bill drawn up by the previous administration referred to that of Ms Harney.

The tribunal was set up in 1995 to compensate, among others, people infected with hepatitis C as a result of the use of human immunoglobulin anti-D antibodies or as a result of the receipt of a blood transfusion or blood product within the Republic.

The remit of the tribunal was extended by legislation in 2002 to cover people infected with HIV as a result of the receipt of a relevant blood product within the State. The 2002 legislation also allowed relatives of infected persons to make claims or compensation under a number of headings, including loss of consortium, dependency losses, loss of society, post-traumatic stress disorder and care claims.