The finances of the Blood Transfusion Service Board were kept "on a reasonably even keel" in the late 1980s principally by reducing staff numbers, the tribunal was told.
Mr John McStay, a financial expert, said there had been a 20 per cent reduction in the level of staffing at Pelican House.
Cross-examined by Mr Charles Meenan SC, counsel for Dr Terry Walsh, who became the BTSB's chief medical consultant in 1988, Mr McStay said there had been an embargo on staffing in the public sector at that time.
Counsel said this mirrored what was going on in the economy and said that, despite staff cuts, the activity level of the BTSB remained stable. He put it to Mr McStay that the number of consultants employed by the organisation dropped from three to one during this period. Mr McStay said he was not aware of this.
The tribunal also heard that in June 1985 the blood bank received a letter from Bank of Ireland suggesting it reduce its level of stock, in an attempt to improve its cash-flow problems. The board decided to reduce its stock, which was valued at £760,000 in July 1985.
Counsel for the Irish Haemophilia Society, Mr Martin Hayden SC, said documents showed more than 141,000 units of Factor 9 were dispatched elsewhere between August 1st and September 18th, 1985, and among this stock was batch number 90753. Mr McStay said he was not aware of the significance of batch numbers.
However, the tribunal has heard that batch 90753 included blood from a donation made in December 1984 from a first-time donor who was identified as HIV positive in 1990. It was one of two batches identified as having infected seven haemophilia B patients in the State with HIV.