The Taoiseach should clarify who is dictating policy on an inquiry into international drugs firms - the Cabinet or the Minister for Justice, urges Brian O'Mahony
Michael McDowell's extraordinary intervention in the proposed inquiry into international drugs firms raises a number of serious issues for the Government and for the Minister for Justice.
First, it throws into sharp contrast the differing approaches of the Canadian and Irish governments, with the Canadians determined to pursue the drugs firms which supplied products that caused the infection of haemophiliacs with deadly viruses.
Second, it indicates that something bizarre is going on within the Cabinet, with the Minister for Health, Micheál Martin, being undermined twice within days by his colleagues, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Justice. Is there something that the Irish people need to be told by the Taoiseach about what is going on within his administration?
Thirdly, and most seriously, it raises serious issues for Michael McDowell. It was he, as attorney general, who wrote to Judge Alison Lindsay last year to ask her to extend her terms of reference to include an investigation of the international drugs firms. His comments now raise serious questions as to the sincerity of this approach.
Did he really want her to extend her inquiry's terms of reference? Did he speak to her, or was this a tongue-in-cheek request that he hoped would be rejected? The fact that the judge refused to extend the terms of reference - and he now vigorously praises her report - leads me to question the request's sincerity.
In his comments at the end of last week about the cost of tribunals, was he questioning the usefulness of the Flood or Moriarty tribunals? It is false economics to believe that it would be a waste of taxpayers' money to go after the international drugs companies for infecting Irish haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis C. There is a real prospect that by pursuing these companies, the Government could recoup tens, possibly hundreds, of millions of euro for the tragedy these firms have wreaked.
Rather than trying to short-change the Irish taxpayer, Michael McDowell should go after the real culprits and have the courage of the conviction that he tells us he has on so many issues in Irish society.
We do not want to return to the pre-tribunal era characterised by cover-ups by the political, medical and clerical establishments. Irish society would be healthier for having a candid look at its past.
Mr McDowell could well do with talking to some members of the Canadian government. His utterances are in stark contrast to the actions taken by the Canadians. Last week the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced criminal charges against the drug company, Armour, and health officials, in relation to the Armour product which led to the death of one Irish child and which was given to 11 other Irish citizens.
The death of this child from this product in Ireland was one of 79 in the small haemophilia community. The source of the HIV infection that caused the majority of these deaths was blood products imported from the US. The Irish child was given the product in February 1986.
Since 1985 products had been heat-treated to kill the contamination thought to cause AIDS. However, this child developed HIV as a result of infusion of this product and later died of AIDS. The product was made by Armour. It also infected six children in Vancouver.
THE virologist who carried out the study of the deadly Armour product, Dr Alfred Prince, gave clear and unequivocal evidence at the Lindsay tribunal. His study showed that the product could transmit HIV; the company suppressed his report.
Judge Lindsay refused to investigate this area. She pointed out that the infection of this child on the balance of probability was due to the Armour product, yet carried out no investigation in regard to this. In her report, nobody is responsible. Nobody took decisions which led to this tragic situation. And Michael McDowell is happy to leave it at that.
During the recent Dáil debate on the Lindsay report, Mr Martin, on behalf of the Government, reiterated a commitment to an inquiry into the international pharmaceutical companies. The Minister is scheduled to meet the Irish Haemophilia Society shortly to discuss the modalities of how this inquiry could best be done, and we look forward to that. We will not allow the inquiry to be torpedoed by the Minister for Justice, who has shown a contempt for our community.
Our first encounter with Mr McDowell was in the run-up to the establishment of the Lindsay tribunal. He treated us in an appalling way by trying to bully us, threatening us and our lawyers. A crisis in our negotiations was avoided by Mr Martin's display of some deft political skill and sense.
By the end of the affair Mr McDowell was embarrassed about his behaviour, and we thought that perhaps he had at last understood the crisis in the haemophilia community. But obviously we were wrong; he no more empathises with us now than when he was attorney general.
In his comments last week, he insulted people with haemophilia and the families of those who died.
Does the Minister believe that the biggest health scandal in the history of the State does not deserve to be adequately investigated? So far the source of infection of the majority of those who have died has not been investigated.
Mr McDowell appears to be a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde in relation to tribunals. He is holding himself out as some kind of saviour to the victims of child clerical abuse by promising them an inquiry and by saying that he is not afraid of a belt of a crozier. Yet he does appear to be afraid of the international drugs firms.
Brian O'Mahony is chairman of the Irish Haemophilia Society