BRIGID Ellen McCole fought a long battle to find out the truth of how she became infected with hepatitis C. Sadly the Co Donegal mother of 12 died less than a week before her test case against the Blood Transfusion Service Board, the State and the National Drugs Advisory Board was due to begin in the High Court.
Hours before her death on October 2nd she felt forced to accept a settlement of £175,000 from the BTSB, the same sum she had been offered only five months before and had refused.
The legal strategy employed by the BTSB in the case has been described as "jackboot" by the former Fianna Fail spokeswoman on health, Mrs Maire Geoghegan-Quinn.
On the day that her case had been due to begin her family were in court listening to an apology from the BTSB for the illness and distress she had suffered "through its fault
Five days after her death, under intense political pressure, the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, announced the establishment of the Hepatitis C Tribunal of Inquiry.
But then Mr Noonan made "insensitive remarks" in the Dail about Mrs McCole and her legal team.
Members of Positive Action, the support group for women infected through anti-D, walked out of the Dail in protest when the Minister asked if her solicitors would not have "served their client better if they had advised her to go to the Compensation Tribunal early this year".
Afterwards he said he realised that his remarks had caused "understandable offence" to her family and other victims and apologised "for any hurt I have caused".
Although her hepatitis C was diagnosed in 1994 Brigid McCole had been ill for almost 10 years. Her daughter, Brid, told the tribunal of inquiry how she had "gone through hell". In the latter stages of the illness the family would hear her screams of pain at night.
"I feel very strongly that only because my mother died, this tribunal would not have come through. It is only a shame that someone had to die for this to happen," she said in her evidence.
The tribunal heard that Mrs McCole's dying wish was that the truth of how she suffered and the circumstances surrounding it would be revealed.