THE Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, has confirmed that the £175,000 settlement in the McCole case against the Blood Transfusion Service Board was being paid by the Department of Health.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Bruton emphasised that the payment would be financed by the Department of Health. "This is a state supported company, but it operates independent decision making. There are dozens of bodies like that," said Mr Bruton, adding that he could list "a hundred bodies who have their own legal decision making process but who are funded ultimately by the State".
However, the Fianna Fail health spokesman, Mr Brian Cowen, said another layer" of the Government's cover in relation to the McCole case had been blown.
"The confirmation that the Department of Health paid the £175,000 lodgement shatters the claims made by the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste and the Minister for Health. The fiction that the State and the BTSB were separate legal entities is exposed once again," said Mr Cowen.
The Taoiseach said the £175,000 was paid out of a fund created to enable the BTSB to manage its legal liabilities arising from the infection of blood with hepatitis C in the 1977 period.
The chief executive officer of the BTSB, Mr Liam Dunbar, said yesterday that the lodgement, which was made in May 1996, was paid from "ordinary revenue". The audit for the BTSB's accounts for 1996 was not yet complete, he said, but the shortfall in the accounts would be paid by the Department of Health.
"We do not have that sort of money. The Department will balance our books," said Mr Dunbar, adding that the Department did not know at the time that the money was being paid.
But Mr Cowen said that the Minister, Mr Noonan, needed to clarify how financial authorisation was given by his Department for the lodgement. "If spokes people for the Minister persist in saying the BTSB could authorise the payment of £175,000 of Department of Health money without first consulting his Department then the matter should be immediately investigated by the Comptroller and Auditor General."
Mr Cowen said that the Taoiseach had said on Friday evening that the lodgement was made independently by the BTSB. "That claim only lasted 24 hours and today's story in the Sunday Tribune flatly contradicts Mr Bruton's version of events. I call on him to put an end to the drip drip of revelations in relation to the McCole case," he added.