A claim that the reported usage of infected plasma by the Blood Transfusion Service Board smacked of "a huge cover-up was rejected by the Minister of State for Health, Mr Brian O'Shea.
The claim was made by the Fianna Fail spokeswoman on Health, Mrs Maire Geoghegan Quinn, who referred to the assertion in the High Court on Wednesday that the board used plasma in 1976 and 1977 from a female plasma exchange patient who it knew had been diagnosed as suffering from infective hepatitis.
She said that as many as six tests showed that the female plasma exchange patient was suffering from infective hepatitis. These were clearly marked as having been seen by the Blood Transfusion Service Board.
Yet, when an investigation was being carried out by the expert group which investigated the Hepatitis C controversy in 1994, the board had said blood donors with a history of jaundice not related to infectious causes could be accepted, but if the jaundice was due to an infectious origin and thus potentially Hepatitis B, the donation would not be accepted.
"Why was this information about the tests not made known to the expert group which investigated the Hepatitis C controversy?
Why were the documents not uncovered then or brought to the attention of the group?
Mr O'Shea said it was obvious from the information in the report that the expert group was informed by the board that the donor was clinically diagnosed as having infective hepatitis in 1976.
"As a result of this clinical diagnosis, the Blood Transfusion Service Board ceased using her plasma for the Anti D programme. Samples of the patient's plasma were sent to Middlesex Hospital at University of London in November 1976, to ensure that all relevant tests available at that time were carried out. The samples tested negative.
"In 1976, there was no test for Hepatitis C available and it was not until 1989 the Hepatitis C virus was described. Adhering to normal practice, Middlesex Hospital retained samples for additional testing if and when more advance tests became available.
"It is, therefore, clear from the report that the expert group on the Blood Transfusion Service Board was made aware of the diagnosis of the female plasma donor."