A Fianna Fail attempt to amend the terms of the reference of the hepatitis C tribunal of inquiry was defeated in the Seanad last night by 20 votes to 16.
Two independent members, Mrs Mary Henry, and Mr Feargal Quinn voted with the Government. Three other independents, Messrs Joe Lee, Joe O'Toole and David Norris supported a Fianna Fail motion which sought to bring the circumstances surrounding the case of the late Mrs Brigid McCole within the scope of the investigation.
Another Fianna Fail motion, also defeated, called on the Minister for Health to inform the tribunal chairman that the anonymity of the victims of hepatitis C appearing before it should be preserved if they wished.
A Government amendment passed without a vote, agreed that this should be done as far as possible.
Earlier in the debate on the blood contamination scandal Mr Michael Finneran (FF) said a very disturbing aspect was that the Minister and the Department had tried to distance themselves from the BTSB. But Mr Noonan was the Minister who had accepted the "resignations" of members of the board, "when, in fact, they knew at that time that they had done wrong and thought they would jump ship, which they did."
Moving his party's motion calling for the fullest co operation by Government Departments and State agencies with the tribunal, Mr Finneran said that more than 1,000 people had been infected by a State board. But not one member of that board had been carpeted, sacked or charged. Resignations had been accepted and personnel had been given a pocketful of money to go away.
But one of the infected women had been taken right to the wire in the courts. The public believed there had been a massive cover up for over a year and a half. The question of guilt, of compensation, of the right to know was involved in this case, added Mr Finneran.
The Minister had indicated that the McCole family would have done better out of the ad hoc tribunal than by going to the court.
That was very disturbing altogether. Was the impression being given that the tribunal was acting on the Minister's orders?
Mr Sean Maloney (Lab) said the greatest monument they could build to Mrs McCole would be the revelation of the whole truth behind what had happened.
Referring to the BTSB's eventual admission of liability, he asked what document had been discovered, what witnesses had come forward and what information had come to light to produced this admission.
The only possible conclusion was that something had been withheld from the Hederman O'Brien team, something sufficiently damning that even the most intransigent legal advice had to change. If the truth was to be served, they, as legislators, must know what had been hidden from the Hederman O'Brien examination and had surfaced finally under the pressure of a court case.