The tribunal investigating how 260 people with haemophilia became infected with HIV and hepatitis C will finally begin hearing oral evidence in Dublin tomorrow. The Haemophilia Infection Inquiry will open to the public at Distillery Building, Church Street, at 10.30 a.m. and will begin with an interpretation of the tribunal's terms of reference by its sole member, Judge Alison Lindsay, followed by an opening statement from counsel for the tribunal led by Mr John Finlay SC.
Those infected and affected by what Judge Lindsay has already termed "a human tragedy" will then begin giving evidence. Twenty-two "priority" witnesses are prepared to give evidence in the first two weeks and an application will then be made by the Irish Haemophilia Society (IHS), which represents them, to have the inquiry adjourned for a number of weeks.
The adjournment will be sought to allow the society to prepare adequately for the investigative stage of the inquiry, according to its administrator, Ms Rosemary Daly.
She said valuable time had been lost in recent months as the society battled with the Minister for Health to have its legal costs covered and now it needed time to make up that ground and "level the playing pitch".
The tribunal is expected to sit for three days this week and three days next week. Nobody knows how long it will last.
The IHS is continuing to take statements from those infected as well as the families of those who have died. To date, 73 people with haemophilia have died - 13 had hepatitis C only and 61 were HIV positive and may also have had hepatitis C.
Persons giving these statements will also have an opportunity to give evidence later if they wish and their anonymity will be guaranteed.
When the tribunal opened for preliminary applications last September, full legal representation was granted to the Blood Transfusion Service Board (now the Irish Blood Transfusion Service), the Minister for Health and the IHS. Limited representation was granted to seven other parties, including St James's Hospital, where the National Haemophilia Treatment Centre is located.
A spokesperson for the Irish Blood Transfusion Service said yesterday it would co-operate fully with the inquiry and pointed out that the infection of haemophiliacs - people born with a rare blood-clotting disorder - who were treated with contaminated blood products was a worldwide problem in the 1970s and 1980s.
"Many countries, including Ireland, which imported blood products in the 70s and 80s suffered this tragedy and figures indicate 40,000 haemophiliacs worldwide became infected with HIV and hepatitis C," a spokesperson said.
The tribunal will examine how Irish people became infected, the screening procedures used and the response of the Government and medical authorities to the infected.
Inquiries into how haemophiliacs became infected with HIV and hepatitis C have already taken place in France, Canada and Japan.