The tribunal investigating how 260 people with haemophilia became infected with HIV and hepatitis C opened yesterday with a commitment from its chairwoman to carry out her inquiries speedily, efficiently and economically.
Judge Alison Lindsay acknowledged the sensitive issues and human tragedy which had occurred, but said there was a job to be done in inquiring into why that tragedy and hurt had happened.
The tribunal is examining how blood products contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C were given to people with haemophilia since the mid-1970s, and will begin full public hearings in December at the earliest.
It will also examine screening procedures and the response of the Government and medical authorities to the cases.
The establishment of the tribunal follows a lengthy campaign by sufferers of the blood-clotting disorder after 104 people became infected with HIV and 219 with hepatitis C. Some of those with hepatitis C are also infected with HIV.
The infections have claimed the lives of 61 of the 72 people with haemophilia who have died in the State over the past 15 years, according to the Irish Haemophilia Society (IHS).
At yesterday's introductory sitting of the tribunal, the chairwoman set out its terms of reference and accepted applications for legal representation from 10 parties before adjourning.
Full public hearings are expected to begin next December or January, following private investigations by the tribunal.
Judge Lindsay said the tribunal would investigate and publish its report "as speedily, efficiently and economically as possible".
She agreed to applications for full representation before the tribunal from the Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB), the Minister for Health and Children and the IHS.
Limited representation was applied for and granted to seven other parties.
These included Dr Stephen O'Sullivan, a former BTSB employee who was responsible for the manufacture of the Factor 9 clotting agent with which certain persons with haemophilia were treated.
His barrister, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, said Mr O'Sullivan had become alarmed in 1977 about practices in the BTSB and had made attempts to alert various people including the National Drugs Advisory Board.
Other bodies granted limited representation include St James's Hospital, where the National Haemophilia Treatment Centre is located; the Attorney General, who represents the public interest; the National Drugs Advisory Board, which is now called the Irish Medicines Board; and the Kilkenny healthcare worker who became infected with HIV following a blood transfusion in July 1985.
Judge Lindsay stressed that the inquiry was not adversarial. Its main purpose was to investigate issues referred to the tribunal and to make appropriate findings and recommendations.
She said it was essential that the tribunal achieved co-operation of all parties. If this was not forthcoming, the tribunal had the same resources as a court of law. "But it is our earnest wish and hope that it will not be necessary to resort to these," she said.
On the issue of confidentiality, Judge Lindsay assured both the recipients of blood products and their donors that appropriate measures would be taken to ensure their anonymity in supplying documents or oral evidence to the tribunal.
She said letters of discovery had been sent by the tribunal's legal team to the BTSB, the IHS, the Irish Medicines Board and the Department of Health and Children, which had agreed to make copies of documents available.
The chairman of the IHS, Mr Brian O'Mahony, said its members were relieved that the investigation was beginning.
"There's still anger, bitterness and a lot of pain. They just want answers to how this catastrophe happened. What happened has never been adequately explained," he said.
Mr O'Mahony said the vast majority of people with haemophilia would like to attend the tribunal's full hearings when they begin, but many were afraid of being identified as having HIV or hepatitis C.