THERE has been a general welcome for the sweeping powers granted to the tribunal of inquiry into the hepatitis C scandal, details of which were announced by the Minister for Health yesterday.
The tribunal will have the authority to call on the Minister, Mr Noonan, as well as his predecessors and Department officials to give evidence into the hepatitis C scandal.
The tribunal's terms of reference, agreed by Cabinet yesterday, are far broader than originally signalled by the Minister, and a motion allowing for its establishment will be debated by the Dail and Seanad tomorrow.
Positive Action and Transfusion Positive, the two groups campaigning on behalf bf people infected by contaminated blood products, have expressed a guarded welcome to the terms of the tribunal as have opposition parties.
The terms of reference cover the period from 1970 up to the present day and allow for an investigation into the political, administrative and medical circumstances surrounding the contamination of blood and blood products.
Politically, they represent a victory for the Opposition in the Dail and a vindication of the campaign launched seven months ago by groups working on behalf of people infected by blood products from the Blood Transfusion Services Board.
The terms of reference also acknowledge the serious public concerns about blood and blood products and not just the contamination of the anti-D vaccine. They deal with whether supervision of the Blood Transfusion Services Board and the National Drugs Advisory Board was adequate in terms of the "functional and statutory responsibilities" of the Minister for Health, the Department and the Health boards. Questions raised in an open letter by the family of the late Mrs Brigid Ellen McCole, who died earlier this month, will also be scrutinised.
There was speculation last night that former Chief Justice, Mr Justice Finlay, may be asked to become sole member of the tribunal, to begin work on the inquiry immediately and to complete the investigation "in as economical a manner as possible and at the earliest date consistent with a fair examination of the matters referred to it".
Following 20 days of oral hearings, the tribunal chairman must produce an interim report to the Minister on the progress already made and the likely duration of the proceedings.
Speaking at a press conference to publish the terms of reference last night, the Minister said "justice never came cheap".
"We should stop comparing it to the Beef Tribunal. We should let this be a stand-alone inquiry into something which is far more serious that the price of beef...
We must be able to pay the price," Mr Noonan added.
Had the idea of a tribunal been brought forward earlier it would have met resistance, but the Irish taxpayer was now "prepared to pay the price", and the time was ripe.
Political accountability will also be an issue for examination under oath at the public tribunal, he added. Mr Noonan also told, the media that he had asked was his Department informed before 1994 of the hepatitis C controversy and "the answer was no".
In an attempt to curb costs, the Attorney General, Mr Dermot Gleeson, will enter discussions with the Law Library and individual lawyers about arrangements for a scale of legal fees to cover the tribunal.
To avoid the criticism voiced curing the Beef Tribunal that the public interest, as distinct from the State's interest, was not represented, a separate legal team will be appointed to fulfil this task. A senior counsel and a solicitor in private practice will represent the public interest.
Groups who campaigned on behalf of persons infected by the Blood Transfusion Services Board will be awarded legal representation as a unit, while individuals will be represented by those lawyers covering the public interest.
The State, the tribunal, the BTSB and the National Drugs Advisory Board will have their own legal teams.
Reacting to the terms of reference, a spokeswoman for Positive Action, the group representing 800 women infected with the hepatitis C virus, said last night they were "pleased that the party leaders have taken on board our points on the scope and framework of the Inquiry, and that there is a recognition that it must now get at the full truth".
Fianna Fail's health spokeswoman, Ms Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, said that for the past 18 months, the Minister and the Minister of State, Mr Brian O'Shea, had "attempted a complete cover-up" to the point of claiming last March that the expert group led by Dr Miriam Hederman O'Brien had the full facts of the controversy.
Welcoming the Minister's "complete u-turn" on the need for a Tribunal of Inquiry, she said it was clear from the terms of reference that Mr Noonan had "capitulated".