A drug company which had offered the Blood Transfusion Service Board a contract through which it could profit from the sale of its blood-clotting agents in the Republic, sponsored the cost of attending a meeting in the US for the BTSB's director, the tribunal has been told.
The company, Travenol, invited the BTSB's then director, Dr Jack O'Riordan, to attend the meeting of the American Association of Blood Banks "on their behalf".
The letter of invitation on September 11th, 1979, was opened to the tribunal yesterday by counsel for the Irish Haemophilia Society, Mr John Trainor SC. He suggested to Dr Emer Lawlor, the BTSB's deputy medical director, that this would have placed Dr O'Riordan "unduly under the influence" of the company.
Dr Lawlor said this was an inference that could be drawn but it was standard practice at the time. They would not have been relying on a report back from Dr O'Riordan.
"It would have been a way of him getting to the meeting without the board having to pay for it. Many clinicians rely on funds from drug companies to attend meetings," she said.
Mr Trainor suggested that establishing such a relationship with Travenol could cloud a person's objectivity.
Dr Lawlor agreed. However, she did not think consultants were "that gullible". They were adult professionals who would not be influenced, she said.
Dr Lawlor said none of the BTSB consultants had a private practice and they would not have been able to fund the trips out of their own incomes.
However, she said, the practice of having drug companies sponsor trips for BTSB staff was ended in the mid-1980s. "I think, and rightly, it was felt it should have been subsidised out of the board's own income," she said.
Cross-examined by Mr Trainor, she said it was possible that the drug company would also have sponsored Dr O'Riordan or other BTSB staff to attend other meetings.
She believed the BTSB would have paid from its own funds to travel to Council of Europe meetings.
Dr Lawlor disagreed with a suggestion that the extension of these "benefits" to Dr O'Riordan was for his personal gain, and not for the advantage of the BTSB. "Obviously, Travenol would have hoped they themselves would benefit but this does not mean they would," she said.