Seventy-eight haemophiliacs have died from illnesses arising from blood transfusions contaminated by the HIV and hepatitis C virus and supplied by a State agency. Behind that cold figure huddle the lives of people who were loved and grieved-over by their families, parents and friends; lives which were blighted and cut short as a result of questionable medical or administrative decisions. Successive governments and their agencies attempted to ignore the tragedy and, in 1991, haemophiliacs were forced to accept a "no-fault" compensation package when many of them were dying. The establishment of the Lindsay tribunal in 1999 was undertaken with extreme reluctance by the Government and its work has continued for more than two years. During that time, harrowing personal stories have been told in public and a further six infected haemophiliacs have died.
The Lindsay tribunal will bring its hearings into the infection of haemophiliacs to a close this week after listening to 148 witnesses and the submissions of a variety of legal teams. The evidence has illustrated the dismissive and uncaring manner in which a marginalised group of people was treated in this State. Starting about 15 years ago, State agencies and some of their officers attempted to ignore or to deny the failures and shortcomings of the former Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB), now the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTC), which were subsequently catalogued by the Finlay tribunal in 1997. The Finlay tribunal investigated the infection of pregnant women with hepatitis C through the supply of contaminated anti-D blood transfusions, when the Brigid McCole case had become a "cause celebre". Arising from that three-month investigation, the BTSB was abolished and replaced by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. The work of the Lindsay tribunal is unlikely to have such far-reaching consequences. But it is vital that past injustices and official neglect be identified and rectified.
In spite of obstructions placed in the way of the Irish Haemophilia Society, the Lindsay tribunal has revealed a great deal. It heard evidence that blood products manufactured by the BTSB had infected patients. The IBTS had claimed that only imported blood products had caused such infections. Evidence was presented to support the contention that changes in the executive structure of the BTSB and a catastrophic financial situation had led to some less-than-safe decisions in relation to the supply of blood products. And there was distressing evidence of failures by the medical care systems to meet the informational and counselling needs of patients and their families.
Infected haemophiliac patients and their families needed to ventilate their anger and dismay over their treatment in public and to find out how it all happened. It was their way of coming to terms with the tragedy that befell them at the hands of the State and its agencies. This investigation is about the lives, and deaths, of dependant people.