GOVERNMENT party leaders, and not the Department of Health, should draw up the terms of reference of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the hepatitis C scandal, according to the group representing infected women.
Positive Action told a press conference yesterday it had written to the three party leaders saying the terms of reference were too vital to be left in the hands of the Department of Health".
The group said questions raised by relatives of the late Brigid McCole must be answered by the Tribunal of Inquiry. One key question concerns the allegation that the Blood Transfusion Service Board had manufactured anti D between 1970 and 1984 without a licence under the Therapeutic Substances Act, 1932.
Ms Jane O'Brien, chairwoman of Positive Action, said the group had not sought a meeting with the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, who ordered the tribunal earlier this week.
Commenting on the terms of reference, she said: "Any less than what is totally acceptable to the women involved is not acceptable."
The tribunal was too important to be left in the hands of the Department of Health, she said, as it would have a case to answer at the inquiry. The Department should therefore not be permitted to control its "scope and framework".
The group is also insisting that the victims' right to know must be enshrined in its terms of reference.
It says the tribunal must deal with issues from the first anti D contamination to the admission of liability by the BTSB in the High Court on Tuesday last, following Mrs McCole's death.