Opposition politicians remain critical of Lindsay report

Opposition politicians have stood over their criticisms of the Lindsay tribunal report last year despite publication of a letter…

Opposition politicians have stood over their criticisms of the Lindsay tribunal report last year despite publication of a letter from the judge describing some of their comments as "personal and at times vindictive".

Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said it was "a fact" that the €12m investigation had not been able "to get at the truth" into what happened in the Blood Transfusion Service Board.

"Judge Lindsay certainly felt the Minister for Health did not defend her, though I have to say that that was not my impression at the time in the Dáil, or outside of it," Deputy Mitchell told The Irish Times. However, the judge's remarks highlight the need to look again at the usefulness of tribunals: "If the Minister, or the public wanted heads to roll, then he should have written the terms of reference that way.

"I think it is unfair to ask the judiciary to do a job that the Government is afraid of doing itself, or simply wants to postpone action upon. We set up an inquisitorial system, but end up getting an adversarial one in practice.

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"There is real need to consider why everybody going into a tribunal needs to have a couple of senior counsel with them. There must be other ways of doing this."

Deputy Mitchell added that the judge's warning that she would dissuade other judges from heading up tribunals is "worrying". "Look at the trouble that we had getting somebody to take over the Flood tribunal.

The Labour Party health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, called on the Minister for Health to respond publicly to the issues raised by Judge Lindsay in her letter to the Attorney General. "It is unfortunate that Judge Lindsay feels that she was let down by the Government and Minister that nominated her, however, she also has to accept that her report was a great disappointment to those who had suffered so much from the appalling blood scandal.

"While she may have been somewhat constrained by the terms of reference drawn up by the Government, to many the language used in the report did not appear to reflect the gravity of the tragedy she was inquiring into." Green Party chairman, Mr John Gormley, said he believed the criticism was deserved. "The report pulled its punches, it didn't apportion blame".