The doctor appointed to head the medical administration of the BTSB in the mid-1980s was not told about many things because staff resented his appointment, the tribunal heard.
"I was not welcomed by my medical colleagues," Dr Vincent Barry told the tribunal.
Dr Barry, who joined the BTSB in 1976 and became Cork regional director, said he was asked while sitting in a car in 1985 to assume the role of chief medical consultant of the BTSB, even though he had no experience of blood products.
He was asked to do the job by the national director of the BTSB, Dr Jack O'Riordan, who was retiring. He said he was reluctant to take on the responsibility but agreed to do so in January 1986 on the understanding that it would be an interim arrangement until a successor to Dr O'Riordan was appointed.
Dr Barry said it was "out of a sense of duty". He had been with the board for so long that he agreed to do the job. However, he ended up spending more time on the road between Cork and Dublin than in the two BTSB centres.
He continued in the role until June 1986 but he could not do his work in Cork at the same time. There were also personal reasons why he could not stay in Dublin. "I ran myself out, quite frankly, trying to do it," he said.
Dr Barry said there were a number of "factors" which he was not told about when he was chief medical consultant but which he found out about.
"There was no red carpet laid out for me when I arrived. I hoped I would never have to say it," he said, adding that he could understand the position of his medical colleagues. "I suppose really they had been there all those years and thought what was I doing there?" he said.
Questioned by counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Finlay SC, about his appointment as chief medical consultant he said: "I wasn't appointed. I was asked sitting in a motor car to know could I act in the capacity of chief medical consultant pending an appointment. I was reluctant, to be honest with you, because I was purely a serologist."
He continued: "As far as blood products go, I'm afraid I wasn't what I would consider a suitable person to administer or discuss these matters. I only knew what I had read of them."