The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, will contest certain High Court appeals of compensation awards from people infected with hepatitis C.
Three such cases are due before the High Court next month. The Irish Haemophilia Society (IHS) has criticised the Minister for pursuing the cases, which involve individuals who are appealing the awards they received from the hepatitis C compensation tribunal. The IHS said it showed that lessons had not been learned from the Brigid McCole case.
The controversy follows a decision in the High Court last Friday where two men, both haemophiliacs, had their awards from the compensation tribunal doubled. The victims' appeals were upheld after the time allowed for them had run out. The compensation tribunal was set up in the mid 1990s to grant awards to victims of hepatitis C from contaminated blood products.
The two cases were first heard by the High Court in January and June last year. The Minister for Health refused to honour the awards to the two men because they not had not lodged their cases in time and because they had already confirmed in writing that they would accept the tribunal's original offer. He appealed both cases.
However, Mr Justice O'Neill, in a written judgment, said "this unfortunate state of affairs" had been brought about by the compensation tribunal's failure to notify the Minister that awards had been made.
He held that the Minister had to bear some some responsibility for failing to ensure that a "proper and effective" system of communication was in place through which the tribunal could inform him that awards had been accepted.
The Department of Health, in explaining the reasons for fighting the appeals, stresses that the people who are appealing their awards had previously signed off on them, which should legally preclude them from appealing.
A spokesman explained that once cases from the compensation tribunal were appealed to the High Court the Minister for Health becomes the respondent. However, the tribunal does not inform the Minister when awards have been made, for privacy reasons.
Therefore, he said, the Minister did not know that the tribunal had written to solicitors for the two men saying the court had no jurisdiction because the tribunal had paid the awards, they had been signed off, and the time limit for appealing had also expired.
The spokesman said the case went to court but this information was not communicated to the Minister or the judge.
The awards to the two men were then doubled. The Minister has asked the tribunal for its views on the judge's criticisms.
However, the Irish Haemophilia Society's administrator, Ms Rosemary Daly, said that if there was a problem with the rules governing this legislation it could be changed by the State.
"Legislation is the legislation they drew up. If these people are going to be disadvantaged there should be a change. You can't make fish of one group and flesh of another. If there is a problem, are they going to sort it out or are they going to hide behind the legislation?"