Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's is now a lonely voice. I remind him of the hepatitis C scandals in the 1990s. In 1991 the Blood Transfusion Service Board was alerted to the fact that a batch of anti-D produced in 1977 might have been contaminated, but despite the alert, it continued to use it and the women were not given any information. The slip-ups were repeated and nothing was done. We are in danger of repeating that tragedy. It took a mother, Ms Brigid McCole, in taking a case against the State to rectify the matter. I remind the Minister of State that despite all of the digging of heels, the State ended up paying out €1 billion, including associated legal costs, in meeting 4,500 claims in the hepatitis C scandal. This is happening on his watch. Does he want to ruin the lives of Defence Forces' personnel and put them into a similar position to Ms McCole? Does he want to ruin his own reputation, just as the reputation of the present Minister with responsibility for NAMA, Deputy Michael Noonan, was impacted on by his treatment of Ms McCole? We must own up to our mistakes, discontinue the use of this failed drug and remove it now.

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