Files kept by the National Children's Hospital in the early 1990s were "somewhat incomplete to say the least", a former manager of the hospital told the tribunal yesterday.
Ms Catherine MacDaid said that when she took up the post of secretary-manager of the hospital in 1994, some files were incomplete, and it was difficult to say if documentation was missing from them.
She referred to the matter in an attempt to explain why she did not see a letter sent to her predecessor in the 1980s informing him that a number of children at the hospital had contracted hepatitis C from contaminated blood products.
Ms MacDaid, who is now deputy CEO of Tallaght Hospital, said she was never told that some haemophiliac children in the hospital had tested positive for hepatitis C. She invited representatives of the Irish Haemophilia Society to lunch to discuss with them their concerns regarding the treatment of haemophiliacs, including the use of body bags for children who had died of HIV. She said she fully empathised with their concerns.
Another former secretarymanager of the hospital, Mr Desmond Rogan, who held the position from 1978 to 1985, said the fact that children had been infected with HIV had never been brought to his attention either.
He agreed with counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Finlay SC, that social work cover at the National Children's Hospital was less than in other hospitals at the time.
There was just one social worker in the hospital and he could not recall what efforts he made to get a second, but felt sure he pursued the matter.
Ms Betty Brady, who was the hospital's director of nursing and matron from 1980 to 1988, said she attended all board meetings of the hospital and the fact that children had been infected with HIV was never raised.
She said she was given a list of the children who had been infected with HIV in 1985 or 1986. She was given them in case a member of staff sustained a needle-stick injury, in which case she would be able to identify if there was a risk to the person involved.