Haemophiliac group hopes parties will support FF motion

THE Irish Haemophilia Society is hopeful that a Fianna Fail motion to expand the terms of reference of the hepatitis C tribunal will get cross party support.

The society's administrator, Ms Rosemary Daly, said yesterday most politicians lobbied by the society said they believed the tribunal should "address all the issues".

The haemophilia society withdrew from the tribunal almost two weeks ago, saying it was not dealing with issues that affected them. The Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, said at the time "it would be totally inappropriate for me as Minister for Health to seek to influence the tribunal in the discharge of its mandate given to it by the Oireachtas".

Ms Daly said the tribunal was an effective way to the truth about anti D infection. However, she said her members, especially parents of children infected with hepatitis C through other contaminated blood products, wanted their own questions answered.

"It's not an issue of compensation. These people want to be able to turn to their teenage sons and answer their questions. We think the judge is doing a wonderful job for the anti D women."

Ms Daly said she believed the issues affecting the 500 society members could be dealt with in a week and this would not lead to "another beef tribunal".

The society held two seminars in Cork and Dublin at the weekend, on women and bleeding disorders. Ms Daly said up to 20,000 Irish women could be suffering from one such disorder called Von Willbrands disease. "It is the most common inherited blood disorder and the most commonly misdiagnosed. A lot of women have been out there wondering what's wrong with them.

Women carriers of haemophilia could also suffer ill health and need low levels of factor 8, the blood product used to treat haemophiliacs.