Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

This Government has a very good record in this area and I will deal with the issue of compensation.

The National Haemophilia Council was set up under statute in 2004. It is chaired by Professor John Bonnar and includes clinicians, nurses, representatives of the Irish Haemophilia Society and health service officials, who work together to advise the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children and others on all aspects of haemophilia. The council is an excellent example of co-operation between the service consumers and providers in helping to optimise the services provided.

We have also seen dramatic improvements in the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. The tragic episodes which took place in 1977 and again between 1991 and 1994 have been addressed. Every effort has been made by the State to make recompense to the victims of this terrible scandal.

As Deputies are aware, a multi-million pound investment was approved in the late 1990s to support the reorganisation and redevelopment of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service nationally. The primary objective was to ensure that the board was resourced to provide a transfusion service in line with best international standards. New testing programmes have been introduced by the IBTS in advance of most other international transfusion services. Continuous monitoring of international developments takes place, such as guarding against emerging threats, for example, variant CJD.

I will turn to the questions that have been at the heart of today's debate. I have already dealt with the matter of the reassurance programme, raised by Deputy O' Sullivan. Deputies generally, on all sides, raised two issues which were of concern to them regarding this legislation. One was the question of the introduction of a scientific test in the assessment of liability and the other was the question of consortium.

With regard to the issue of the scientific test, Deputy O'Sullivan argued that clinical diagnosis is not being taken into account. Of course, clinical diagnosis will still be taken into account——

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