The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has apologised to haemophiliacs infected with HIV and hepatitis C through its blood and blood products for the first time - more than a decade after the infection occurred.
Responding to yesterday's publication of the Lindsay Tribunal report, the State agency expressed regret for "all death and injury" caused by the products it supplied.
More than 260 haemophiliacs in the State were infected with HIV and/or hepatitis C between the mid-1970s and 1990. Seventy-nine of them have since died.
Judge Alison Lindsay's report, which was compiled after almost two years of public hearings, levels strong criticism at the BTSB, as the IBTS was formerly known.
It also criticises the Department of Health and Children for certain aspects of its handling of the tragedy, as well as doctors for specific failings.
The Irish Haemophilia Society (IHS), which campaigned for the establishment of the tribunal, expressed disappointment at certain findings, particularly the report's judgment that the BTSB did not put profit ahead of safety in its decisions on product selection.
IHS administrator Ms Rosemary Daly said: "We would still hold the view that there was a cover-up" over the State's role in the infections even though the report did not bear this out.
Ms Daly said she welcomed the IBTS's apology as no such gesture had previously been forthcoming.
However, she expressed concern that the agency continued to distinguish between haemophiliacs infected with BTSB product and those infected with commercial concentrate imported by the agency.
The Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, committed himself to implementing the report's recommendations.
They include a guarantee that the blood products supplied to people with haemophilia are "of the highest standard and are of the safest nature that are available".
Mr Martin also restated his commitment to an inquiry into the role of international drug companies in the infection tragedy.
The Minister said he had committed himself to such an inquiry during the election campaign and would be discussing the nature of it with the IHS. An unpublished report on the issue has already been compiled for the Minister by a senior counsel.
Ms Daly said the IHS would continue to push for an inquiry into the role of the drugs companies. "These questions remain unanswered."
She said she believed the Minister was committed to holding such an inquiry and that any obstacles it might face over obtaining information from the companies in question could be removed.
Neither the IHS nor the Minister would be drawn yesterday on whether the report should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Judge Lindsay said she did not think it would be appropriate to send a copy to the DPP.
The Labour Party's equality spokeswoman, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, said Mr Martin should refer it anyway. However, the Minister said he did not think it was his role to do so. The report was now in the public domain and open to the DPP to study, he said.
As well as criticising a number of institutions, the report cites specific failures of treating doctors. The former director of the National Haemophilia Treatment Centre, Prof Ian Temperley, is praised for being "remarkably honest", and "neither evasive nor defensive" in his evidence.
However, the doctor is criticised for "an unacceptably long delay" in drafting treatment guidelines to guard against the risk of HIV. He is also criticised for taking sabbatical leave in 1986 before putting in place arrangements for informing patients of HIV test results.
Cork-based consultant Dr Paule Cotter is also cited for criticism. The report says she should have "pursued more vigorously" the objective of ceasing to use product which had not been heat-treated to guard against HIV.
The full text of the report is available at:
[ http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/special/Opens in new window ]
