Question
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the remarks about the accuracy of ministers' statements to Parliament about the reasons why the Republic of Ireland has a more generous scheme of compensation for haemophilia patients infected by contaminated blood than the United Kingdom, as set out in letters from the Irish Haemophilia Society and the Department of Health and Children in the Republic of Ireland quoted during the second reading of the Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) Bill [HL] on 11 December (HL Deb, cols 1263–4). [HL923]
The compensation scheme in the Republic of Ireland was set up in the light of evidence of mistakes by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB).
The sections of the letters from the Irish Haemophilia Society and the Department of Health and Children which were quoted during the Second Reading of the Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) Bill [HL] on 11 December (HL Deb, cols 1263-4), do not mention the fact that the Irish Government had set up an expert group to look into the issue of contaminated blood products, which reported in January 1995. The expert group found that wrongful acts had been committed by the BTSB, which led the Irish Government to set up the Hepatitis-C Compensation Tribunal to operate on a non-statutory basis to review claims for compensation arising from the many civil actions pending in the courts. The Irish Government subsequently set up the Finlay tribunal of inquiry, which reported in March 1997. This found that wrongful acts were committed. Following the findings of the Finlay tribunal, the Irish Government placed the Hepatitis-C Compensation Tribunal on a statutory footing.
This information has been agreed with officials in the Republic of Ireland's Department of Health and Children.