Cabinet set to address concerns of haemophiliacs tomorrow

THE CABINET is expected to decide tomorrow how the concerns of the Irish Haemophilia Society about anti D infection can be addressed.

It will come under pressure this week from the Opposition parties in a Fianna Fail private members motion to amend the terms of reference of Hepatitis C tribunal.

The Fianna Fail spokeswoman on Health, Mrs Maire GeogheganQuinn, has tabled a motion, which will be debated tomorrow night, noting with concern the decision two weeks ago of the Irish Haemophilia Society to withdraw from the existing inquiry. The motion calls on the Minister for Health to grant a debate on the interim report of the judicial inquiry and to amend the terms of reference so the circumstances of infection of all victims will be fully investigated.

The plight of the haemophiliacs was considered by the Cabinet last week but no decision was arrived at on how to deal with their complaints. Government sources insisted, however, that there was sympathy for the position of the haemophiliacs and that tomorrow's meeting would decide on the best way to address their concerns.

Mrs Geoghegan Quinn, in a statement yesterday, said when the hepatitis C inquiry was being established, she was given assurances by the Minister, Mr Noonan, that all victims of this scandal, including those infected through transfusions, would receive the same treatment. It was on this basis that Fianna Fail cooperated with the passage of the terms of the tribunal.

As well as seeking the amendment of the terms of reference relating to haemophiliacs, she said Fianna Fail would be calling for the terms of the tribunal to be amended so that all the questions raised by the McCole family could be answered. One of the family's questions was currently excluded.

"This question, asking who authorised the horrendous legal strategy which was employed in the McCole case, has to be central to the inquiry report as it was a wish of Mrs McCole on her death bed that it be answered," Mrs Geoghegan Quinn said.