A Co Kildare man told the tribunal that in 1979 he went into hospital as a haemophiliac with a nose-bleed and came out with hepatitis C after he was given Factor 8.
Mr John Berry (62), from Athy, married with three children, who had been a lorry driver, said he now had incurable liver cancer.
He first discovered he had mild haemophilia in 1973 but he had led a normal life. Then, Mr Berry said, in 1979 he had a nose-bleed that would not stop and he received Factor 8.
Mr Jim McCullough, counsel for the Irish Haemophilia Society, asked if this was the first time he had been treated with Factor 8. Mr Berry said it was the first and only time.
"My health started deteriorating from then on," Mr Berry said. In the 1980s he was getting more and more tired and could not cope. He was told in 1991 that he had hepatitis C. His future and his family's future were gone. Nobody told him anything.
Mr McCullough asked if he was suffering from liver cancer. Mr Berry said: "That's correct." Asked if there was any treatment available for his particular cancer, Mr Berry replied: "No, it's incurable."
Asked how he thought he got hepatitis C, Mr Berry said: "From Factor 8, as far as I know anyway. I went in with a nosebleed and came out with hepatitis C, and there must be someone responsible for giving me that, and know how I got it, and why was it given to me? Who was responsible for that?" Mr Berry asked.
