Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The reason the HSE is no longer providing the funds is they are provided by the blood bank from its profits. To suggest there has somehow been a cutback in the services that are rightly provided, in terms of the reassurance people need, is simply not correct. There has been no cutback in services; there is an allocation of resources from a different source.

We all acknowledge the pain and suffering inflicted on more than 1,700 of our citizens infected with hepatitis C and HIV through the administration of blood and blood products within the State. It is an emotive issue and the Tánaiste has already stated that no compensation or support scheme will ever set right the wrong done. The State stands as a legal wrongdoer. People say we should not be legalistic about issues like this. The State, as a juristic person, is the legal wrongdoer in this case and must account for its wrongdoing like any other wrongdoer.

We are, on all sides of the House seeking to do this through difficult legislation. There are three prongs to providing support to infected persons. The first, compensation, has been provided through the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal which was put on a statutory footing in 1997. To date around 2,200 people have received awards and, happily, we were able to facilitate the making of these claims for compensation in a non-adversarial fashion.

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