The Blood Transfusion Service Board is to advertise shortly for a new chief executive. Mr Liam Dunbar, who has held the position since April 1995, is to retire shortly due to ill health.
A spokeswoman for the BTSB confirmed yesterday a new chief executive was being sought. "The board will be advertising shortly for a new CEO and management support team," she said. The recruitment process is expected to be completed prior to the establishment of a tribunal of inquiry into HIV infection. The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, said this week it would begin hearing evidence in June, and report by the autumn.
Mr Dunbar has been on sick leave since last summer. In October, Mr Tom O'Dwyer was appointed acting chief executive. He is on a six-month secondment from the Southern Health Board.
Mr Paul Howard, an employee of the Department of Health, is acting as his deputy. It is understood Mr O'Dwyer will not be going forward for the position.
Mr Dunbar was seconded from St James's Hospital in 1995, in a radical reorganisation of the board, following its failure to act on evidence that its anti-D product was infected with the hepatitis C virus. "Frankly, the best people we could find," is how the former Minister for Health, Mr Michael Noonan, described the appointment of Mr Dunbar and Prof Shaun McCann at the time.
Mr Dunbar's appointment was made permanent in March 1996. He came under severe pressure as a result of the hepatitis C controversy.