Inadequate space forced board to store documents in toilets, kitchens

The National Drugs Advisory Board stored documents in toilets and kitchens because of space constraints at its offices between 1977 and 1982, the tribunal heard yesterday.

Mr Brendan Murphy, former secretary of the board, said facilities at its Harcourt Street headquarters were totally inadequate during that period.

He said the agency was forced to hold board meetings in hotels and, on two occasions, at the offices of the Blood Transfusion Service Board, creating inconvenience because of the volume of documentation that needed to be moved around.

Mr Murphy agreed the Department of Health had given approval for the agency to move to premises at Adelaide Road in 1979. However, because building work had not been completed, the move did not take place until March 1982.

Mr Murphy, who was secretary between 1974 and 1995, when the NDAB became the Irish Medicines Board, described how a large backlog of product authorisation applications built up through the years.

New applications dropped from 1,195 in 1976 to 722 in 1980 and 651 in 1993. The backlog at the start of each year rose from 108 in 1976 to 1,617 in 1980 and an all-time high of 2,860 in 1993.

There were similar arrears over the same period in renewal and amendment authorisation applications.

Mr Murphy noted the NDAB had only 10 staff members in 1974. The number rose to 24 between 1982 and 1986, a critical period regarding HIV. This compared to a staff of 139 in the IMB at the end of last month.

Mr Murphy paid tribute to the NDAB's former medical director, the late Dr Allene Scott, who, he said never took annual leave in the 20 years he worked with her.

A staff report in 1985 estimated that by the end of the year Dr Scott would have been entitled to 253 1/2 days annual leave. Mr Murphy said she never sought recompense for this.