"GOD speed to the sworn tribunal," said one TD in Leinster House this week. It is a sentiment that the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, might have echoed: God speed out of the maze where he has stumbled, befuddled, for the best part of three weeks.
He appeared to have spotted the exit sign from the hepatitis C labyrinth on Tuesday as he announced broad terms of reference for the sworn tribunal of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the contamination of blood and blood products by the Blood Transfusion Services Board (BTSB).
But, instead of escaping from the controversy with some grace, he stuck his foot in his mouth.
Mr Noonan was forced to grovel in the Dail on Wednesday night and admit that his remarks on the solicitor's handling of the late Mrs Brigid Ellen McCole's case had caused understandable offence to her family and to other victims.
His comments were not the result of fatigue - and indeed he could argue burn-out at that stage - but were scripted and read in advance by the Minister and his advisers.
The remarks caused consternation among Positive Action, the group representing 800 hepatitis C infected women, and seven of their executive left the House in protest.
In a hotel near Leinster House, they drafted a statement demanding an apology or resignation. The apology was painful but scarcely as disabling as the other option.
"Mr Noonan's speech was all wrong. It was in the same tone as the letter from the Chief State Solicitor's office to the solicitors acting for Positive Action before Mrs McCole died," one TD said.
That correspondence, in characteristic legalese, pointed out that it was difficult to understand how anyone could choose to ignore the Compensation Tribunal in favour of the stress and costs involved in High Court litigation. If any of the solicitors' clients decided to pursue litigation, it would be fully defended by the State "if necessary to the Supreme Court".
THOSE sentiments emerged again in Mr Noonan's speech on Wednesday afternoon when he coolly pondered if Mrs McCole's solicitors would not have "served their client better if they had advised her to go to the Compensation Tribunal early this year."
But, the jab that truly injured centred on his observation that the legal team should have found a plaintiff "in a better condition to sustain the stress of a High Court case". This sentence is likely to haunt Mr Noonan for the rest of his career and could become to him what references to Mrs Robinson became to P. Flynn.
From the moment he confronted the worst public health scandal in the history of the State, he has been obstinate and obsessed with damage-limitation to the Exchequer, his Government and the blood transfusion service. The potential consequences for all three have vet to be measured.
In the wake of Mrs McCole's death, the Minister has been forced to perform an expensive u-turn on the issue of a tribunal of inquiry with the power to call witnesses and cross-examine as well as to procure relevant documentation.
Having steadfastly refused to establish an inquiry - on the grounds that Mrs McCole's High Court case would have been the judicial determination of events - he has cast aside the reservations about huge costs (a shadow from the beef tribunal) and embarked on the last and most certain quest for the truth.
"Justice does not come cheaply," he said at the unveiling of the terms of reference on Tuesday evening. And, all references to the beef tribunal were henceforth unfashionable as Mr Noonan left behind his previously rather inflexible language in favour of a kinder approach.
With much of the skill for which he is reputed, the Minister had put together a salvage plan and it seemed he and his Government were out of the woods on this particularly gluey quandary.
Though the Minister originally signalled that the terms of reference should concentrate on the medical aspects of the affair, they in fact pleased many of those campaigning for seven months for a judicial inquiry.
In the words of Fianna Fail, it was a "capitulation", but Positive Action expressed pleasure at how compliant the Department was with their demands for political, administrative and medical accountability in the search for the truth behind this cheerless epic.
THE tribunal's remit would allow it to delves into the circumstances in which the anti-D vaccine, manufactured by the BTSB, was infected with hepatitis C. It could examine when the BTSB first became aware that the vaccine became infected and what response it had to that discovery.
Led by the former Chief Justice, Mr Justice Thomas Finlay, the tribunal could also examine the BTSB's reaction to a letter from the Middlesex Hospital, London, in December, 1991, which told of a link between the anti-D and hepatitis C.
The supervision of the BTSB and the National Drugs Advisory Board (NDAB) in the light of the "functional and statutory responsibilities" of the Minister for Health, his Department and the health boards, would also be explored. Another crucial area is the fact that the BTSB manufactured anti-D without a licence for 14 years.
Questions raised by the family of the late Mrs McCole could also be investigated but, it was confirmed later by the Minister, not in relation to the State's handling of her case.
On Thursday, the Minister agreed to amend the terms of reference to allow hepatitis C victims to maintain anonymity if they so desire and to ensure that Government Departments and Stage agencies will give their full co-operation.
Meanwhile, Ms Liz O'Donnell of the Progressive Democrats, has said that, if she gets the victim's permission, she will submit evidence which claims that the BTSB was told about a link between anti-D and jaundice in a woman in 1977.
The hepatitis C scandal should now ebb in terms of column inches and sound bites but the real story has yet to be told - through the tribunal and through the case of Mrs Mary Quinlan, a Carlow-based woman infected with the virus through anti-D who is pursuing the BTSB, the State and the NDAB for aggravated damages.
But, for the Government, and particularly Michael Noonan, the hepatitis C scandal will not go away.
