Sympathy was extended at the Lindsay tribunal yesterday to the family of Mr John Berry, the 75th haemophiliac to die from infected blood products administered in the State.
When the tribunal resumed public hearings after the summer recess, the chairwoman, Judge Alison Lindsay, said she wanted to extend her sympathy and that of all present to Mr Berry's widow and his family.
Mr Berry (62), a father of three from Athy, Co Kildare, died at his home on Sunday. As a mark of respect, the tribunal cancelled a planned sitting on Tuesday.
The former lorry driver was one of only two victims to give evidence to the tribunal using his own name in May. He contracted hepatitis C in 1979 from a contaminated Factor 8 blood clotting agent which he received for a nosebleed. He developed liver cancer.
Judge Lindsay went on to announce that the tribunal, which is inquiring into how and why some 220 haemophiliacs in the State became infected with HIV and hepatitis C from contaminated blood products, will sit for four days a week from now on. Judge Lindsay said it would no longer sit on Mondays to give all parties time to make necessary preparations for the public sittings.