The Irish Haemophilia Society (IHS) is to meet the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, today, to outline its concerns that the Government has failed to live up to a series of commitments made in the wake of the Lindsay tribunal report. Liam Reid reports.
The IHS has also complained that Mr Martin has yet to make a decision on an offer by a leading personal injuries law firm in the US to take a case against international pharmaceutical firms which supplied contaminated products to Irish health authorities on a "no foal, no fee" basis.
The offer was made by law firm, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, last year. The firm has taken many successful class action personal injury cases against large firms.
A spokesman for the IHS said the group found it "unacceptable that issues as important as these have been left unattended to, in some case many years".
In relation to the potential international legal case, he said that while individual haemophiliacs had nothing financial to gain, it could result in a large financial award or settlement for the State.
"This litigation would be of great benefit to the State at a time when resources are being sought for the health service and yet no progress has been made. It's like staring a gift horse in the mouth."
The meeting follows a three-page letter to Mr Martin last week, in which the society outlined nine different areas where it believed little progress had been made. Of serious concern, according to the letter, is the fact that the National Haemophilia Council, which is to advise on blood products, has yet to be established on a statutory footing, although the legal instrument to do so is awaiting Mr Martin's signature.
The letter, signed by Ms Margaret Dunne, the administrator of the society, also sets out concerns regarding a nine-month delay in the Department of Health responding to a request from the Director of Public Prosecutions for assistance in relation to a potential criminal investigation into the contaminated blood products scandal. Other issues raised in the letter include Government commitments to funding the society, and an insurance scheme for those infected with HIV and Hepatitis C.