Mr. Lawrence Murphy:

I cannot really give an overview of the whole State response but my experience is that the lack of education and information and the stigma involved - even in this cohort of people - are quite damaging. As the Deputy probably heard before, hepatitis C had a nickname - the silent killer - because nobody talked about it. Nobody ever disclosed that they had it. It was not something that you would be asked about if you went to one of these services the Deputy referred to. People just went to those services to get the equipment they needed and then left. There was not much talk about blood-borne viruses and the opportunities to get tested were minimal. The opportunities can still be minimal. It depends on where you live.