TERMS of reference for the tribunal of inquiry into the blood scandal will be agreed by the cabinet tomorrow.
Although the Progressive Democrats have welcomed a commitment by the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, to submit to a question and answer session in the Dail on the anti D controversy, Fianna Fail says two hours is not enough.
The session is expected to take place on Thursday when the motion to establish the tribunal of inquiry is being proposed.
Mr Noonan gave the commitment in an interview on RTE Radio's This Week programme. The PD health spokeswoman, Ms Liz O'Donnell, commented last night: "The Minister's change of heart has come very late in the day. However, I hope that he is now finally prepared to face up to his political responsibilities."
The PDs had already submitted a series of questions to the Minister "but he had failed to answer any of these satisfactorily," Ms O'Donnell said.
Ms Maire Geoghegan Quinn said Fianna Fail had tabled 20 parliamentary questions to the Minister for answer next week on the issue.
"We will also be demanding that an open ended Dail question and answer session be granted, rather than one limited to two hours," the Fianna Fail health spokeswoman added.
In his interview, Mr Noonan said he would ensure he had "at least two hours" to answer all the charges made against him. Mrs Geoghegan Quinn urged the three Coalition leaders to ask the Minister to stand aside from any involvement in drawing up the terms of reference for the judicial inquiry".
She claimed that throughout the controversy Mr Noonan had been. "unable to separate the public interest, from his and his Department's own involvement in the scandal".
Serious questions remained about the handling of the controversy by the Minister and the Government "and the manner in which information has been withheld from the Dail and from the victims of this scandal," Ms GeogheganQuinn said.
Asked on RTE whether there would be a criminal investigation of the controversy, Mr Noonan said: "When the judge reports after the judicial inquiry and when he draws conclusions and makes recommendations what I would say is, let the chips fall wherever the chips fall."
A conference of the Labour Women's National Council unanimously passed a resolution at the weekend calling on the Tanaiste and Labour leader, Mr Spring, to ensure the tribunal has terms of reference that are acceptable to the victims. It also called on Mr Spring to ensure the full truth is established about all events up to the apology from the Blood Transfusion Service Board on October 8th, 1996.
Mrs Detta Warnock, a member of the executive committee of Positive Action, which represents the women infected by anti D, said the victims wanted the terms drafted by "government leaders" rather than the Department of Health, because the tribunal would of necessity have to inquire into the Department's own conduct.