Opposition "appalled" at tone of Noonan's speech

THE Fianna Fail spokeswoman on health, Mrs Maire Geoghegan Quinn, said she was appalled at the tone of the Minister's speech. She did not believe the Minister understood "the anger, the frustration and the bitterness that is out there among all victims of hepatitis C".

It was a tragedy that members of Positive Action and other victims had walked out in protest, from the public gallery during the Minister's speech. The Minister had not shown any sympathy or any compassion.

She condemned the fact that every legal team represented in the High Court after Mrs McCole's death had offered condolences to Mr McCole and his 12 children with the exception of the legal team for the State.

Yesterday was the 22nd occasion on which the Opposition had raised the issue in the Dail. "The anger after all of that time has not abated," she said.

Every attempt to get at the truth was frustrated regardless of what the Minister said. There would be no need for a tribunal of inquiry if the Minister had honoured the promises made by Fine Gael to fully answer parliamentary questions. "Throughout the last 18 months there was an attempt to cover up this scandal."

The BTSB was "playing with the lives" of people who tested positive and who were denied care. The BTSB now claimed that these people were at minimum risk. "I suggest you tell that to the McCole family.

Why, she asked, was the Department not made aware of what was going on at the BTSB? The Minister claimed that there was infection in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. A raw nerve was evident every time the Minister was criticised. The reason we criticise you, she told Mr Noonan, his that you were the first Minister for Health to be in possession of all the facts. Political responsibility therefore rests with you and you have failed to keep the public health interest to the fore in relation to this. Your judgment on that basis alone was flawed. The State should never have remained part of the cover up that occurred."

She posed a series of questions to the Minister -

. When did he first know about the file on hepatitis?

. Who were the members of the board of the BTSB since 1976?

. Who were the divisional, heads in the BTSB?

. Was any assurance given to the former chief medical officer as part of his severance deal that he, would be absolved from being called before any inquiry or court in future?

. Who gave the BTSB the advice that it should not admit liability for what occurred?

. The Minister accepted that the compensation scheme might have to be amended but said he would only make amendments if these were recommended by the tribunal of inquiry. Was it not necessary to amend the scheme in view of events that occurred?

Regarding the appearance of victims before the tribunal Mrs Geoghegan Quinn said there was real fear among many of them that their anonymity would be breached. The Minister should ensure that evidence of victims could be taken confidentially.

Ms Liz O Donnell (PD, Dublin South) said that time after time when an issue concerned culpability or maladministration the Government behaved "defensively and covertly". The main vehicle for parliamentary accountability was parliamentary questions. This week, the Taoiseach had volunteered "as a courtesy that questions which had been ruled out previously would be answered".

It a depressing indictment of forced to resort to a tribunal of inquiry which will be debated tomorrow to establish facts which are already in the possession of the State and state boards.

On Tuesday this week it emerged that up to 40 blood donors who tested positive for hepatitis C in routine screenings in 1991 were not told they had the virus until two years later. "The public has been in receipt of the truth by instalments of information in relation to the various aspects of this whole affair."

Why had the Minister continued to strongly prefer the victims to opt for the compensation tribunal? Why had he ignored calls by Positive Action and deputies on all sides of the House for an extension of the closing date for the compensation tribunal?

Immediately following the admission of liability by the BTSB in the High Court the Minister distanced the State from the admission. "The State still maintains that position ... I referred to it as a fiction, a politically convenient fiction and indeed perhaps a legally convenient fiction."

The State was vigorously denying all liability. "Liability to quote the Chief State Solicitor is repudiated and that remains the case."

Replying to questions, Mr Noonan said the forms filled in by donors were now much more searching than before. More donors were being rejected because people were being screened out but the volume of blood from a smaller number of donors had increased. The safety of the blood supply was now high on the agenda of the EU Council of Ministers and would be discussed at a meeting, at which he would preside, in November, he said.

The first time he knew that the woman whose plasma of the woman whose blood was used in 1976 was infected was when he read the report of the expert group headed by Dr Miriam Hederman O Brien. He did not mislead the House on the issue, the Minister said.

The reason why the BTSB had changed its stance in regard to admitting liability in the High Court did not relate to the discovery of [any new documentation. It arose from a 25 year review of the issue and the medical witnesses from, at home and abroad who would give evidence.

It was clear from the report of the expert group that they had got "very little co-operation" at the start of their inquiries. It improved when the new chairman came in."