Haemophiliacs to seek firms inquiry in talks with Martin

The Minister for Health is to contact the Irish Haemophilia Society today in a bid to defuse a row over a promised inquiry into the role of multinational drugs companies in the infection of haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis C.

Mr Martin and the IHS are to set a date for a meeting within the next fortnight in order to see how the inquiry could go ahead.

The IHS will be seeking a renewed assurance from Mr Martin that the Government remains committed to the initiative, despite last week's remarks of the Minister for Justice.

In a strongly-worded intervention, Mr McDowell had said that pursuing the pharmaceutical companies legally "could be a monumental waste of resources", and that "the Government should not simply rush into action to appear to be doing the popular thing".

IHS chairman Mr Brian O'Mahony said yesterday he had not heard anything to indicate a change in Government policy on the issue, despite Mr McDowell's position.

He suggested the Minister's intervention had more to do with "budgetary constraints" and "possible Cabinet rivalry" than the merits or otherwise of an inquiry.

"None of us want an inquiry that goes on forever and produces no results. If you ask should we have another Lindsay tribunal, the answer would be an emphatic no, given our disappointment with its findings. But the Government has made a commitment to dealing with this issue and we take it as a sign of bad faith for Minister McDowell to try to scupper the talks before they have begun.

"If the man has genuine concerns he should pass them on to the Minister for Health rather than going on this solo run," said Mr O'Mahony.

He stressed that the IHS was not prescribing the form that the inquiry should take. "We are waiting to have proposals put to us."

Among the possible options is the appointment of a special prosecutor who would not only investigate the role of drugs firms in the supply of infected blood products to the Blood Transfusion Service Board, but would also examine means of recouping costs from them.

In Canada last week, criminal charges were proffered against Armour Pharmaceuticals, one of the companies that supplied infected products to Ireland. Mr O'Mahony said he did not believe a similar action could be taken here until the role of such firms had been investigated.