Weaknesses in the internal management and financial control systems at the Blood Transfusion Service Board were blamed for its serious financial difficulties in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the tribunal heard.
The standard of management in the board was discussed at a meeting in the Department of Health in 1983.
Notes of the meeting opened to the tribunal said the circumstances of the BTSB were such that it was "hardly surprising" that problems arose.
It said: "The board seems to suffer both from ineffective internal management and weak external control", adding that some of the "management defects" had previously been commented on.
Counsel for the Irish Haemophilia Society, Mr Martin Hayden SC, asked Mr John McStay, a financial expert put forward by the blood board, if he agreed with the Department's assessment, having reviewed its accounts over a 20-year period.
Mr McStay said he was not sure what the words "weak external control" were meant to convey. He said the reference to ineffective internal management was a fair comment on the years 1979 to early 1983.
The move by the BTSB to new premises at Mespil Road had upset the equilibrium in the organisation and was a critical issue.
The move, which the board could not afford, was the major reason for it experiencing losses of more than £1 million in 1981.
Mr McStay said it sometimes took a major event, such as the move to Mespil Road, to reveal the problems underneath the surface.
The organisation was not financially driven before this.
The board's accountant was also its personnel officer, and his time was taken up almost entirely with staff negotiations as staff were highly unionised.