The former chairwoman of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, Prof Patricia Barker, who resigned last week, said yesterday that she had been very unhappy about the "trumpeting" of IBTS issues in public.
In a clear reference to the bitter row which has continued for some time over the proposed transfer of blood-testing from the Cork centre of the IBTS to its Dublin headquarters, she said certain issues could and should have been dealt with out of the glare of publicity.
In her first comments since her resignation, Prof Barker moved to reassure the public about standards at the Blood Bank.
She said that, in spite of "organisational difficulty", the core work of the IBTS continued to the highest international standard.
Speaking to The Irish Times, she said her only concern throughout her period as chairwoman had been to ensure the adequate supply of safe blood products. Prof Barker, who is registrar of Dublin City University, said she became involved in the IBTS because members of her family had had their lives saved by blood donations from people she had never been able to thank.
"One of the greatest pleasures for me was to meet blood donors who could see, with blinding clarity, through the adverse publicity to the simple, salient fact that their donation was going to save another person's life", she said.
"I would assure them that, in spite of the organisational difficulty, the core work of the IBTS continues to the highest international standard.
"I would ask them: please continue to give the gift of life."
She said she did not wish to discuss in detail issues surrounding her resignation because she believed publicity about organisational problems could discourage people from giving this gift of life.
Prof Barker went on to pay tribute to staff at the Blood Transfusion Service.
"I greatly admire the dedicated and professional staff who work extraordinarily hard to run the service at a medical and pharmaceutical standard which is the envy of the world", she said.
Her resignation a week ago today was the third from the board of the IBTS this year. Other resignations came from two senior doctors, Prof Shaun McCann, director of the National Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at St James's Hospital, Dublin, and Dr Fred Jackson, a consultant haematologist with the South-Eastern Health Board. None has been replaced to date by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin.
He is expected to face pressure to take the views of the IBTS into account when appointing their replacements.