A former laboratory technician with the BTSB who worked on a pioneering concentrate production project for haemophiliacs told the Lindsay tribunal yesterday she felt "aggrieved" by a suggestion her work might have been funded by a pharmaceutical company.
Ms Brigid O'Rourke, who was employed by the board between 1981 and 1985, said she assisted the former senior technical officer, Mr Sean Hanratty, on the project which, if successful, might have helped to prevent the infection of haemophiliacs.
Known as the heparin project, it entailed production of an intermediate concentrate Factor 8 clotting agent from Irish plasma, which it was hoped could have been used instead of imported blood products about which there were safety concerns. The project was abandoned in late 1983 without any documented explanation.
Ms O'Rourke said she only worked on the project for about 10 days in total over a six-month period between late 1981 and early 1982. On each occasion she processed about 80 units of plasma, making only a "slight" variation in a procedure normally used in the production of cryoprecipitate.
She said she was not sure whether Mr Hanratty added something to the material she had prepared as "I was not in on the actual concept". However, she said she was aware the material was subsequently freeze-dried before being used in clinical trials in 1982.
Asked whether Mr Hanratty discussed those trials, Ms O'Rourke said he had mentioned them and was very excited at the outcome as the new concentrate had proved very effective.
Ms O'Rourke said her recollection of events was "extremely vague" when the blood bank first approached her around November 1999 for information. Subsequently, however, she said she read coverage of the tribunal, and this was the first indication of her involvement.
She said she "took umbrage" at an intimation that she might have been paid by an independent company.
The suggestion that a technician who worked on the heparin project might have been funded by a body other than the BTSB had come during the cross-examination of the blood bank's chief medical witness, Dr Emer Lawlor, by counsel for the Irish Haemophilia Society, Mr John Trainor SC.
Asked who paid the technician's salary, Dr Lawlor said she had assumed it was the BTSB but was not sure as she had not specifically looked into it. Mr Trainor raised further questions about the issue as the tribunal had not seen any documentation showing the technician's terms of employment.
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the tribunal will hear further direct testimony from haemophiliac victims and their relatives next month. Up to 15 people have already lodged statements with the tribunal and are due to give evidence in the last week of November and first week of December.
The testimony is due to follow completion of the first module of the tribunal's inquiry, namely that into the actions of the Blood Transfusion Service Board. In preparation for its next phase, the tribunal has adjourned its public hearings for a week and will next sit on Tuesday, November 7th.
