Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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It seems the Minister for Health is determined to avoid any direct connection with this issue, despite its importance. The last time this issue was discussed in this House was 25 June 2004. At the time, the Minister for State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley, assured me the then Minister, Deputy Martin, was fully aware of the difficulties with the current building in Cork and was working with the IBTS to develop a suitable alternative.

The development brief for the new Cork centre project was submitted to the Department by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service in March 2003. The cost of the project at that time was €28 million. We can only wonder how much it would cost today. We have no notion of how much it would cost because nothing has happened. No design team has been appointed and no work has taken place on the promised new building despite the promise made by the previous Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin and the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley that planning permission would be, in his own words, fast-tracked and that all that was to be done would be done as quickly as possible. Despite this, nothing has happened. There are three new prefabs but the service still works from the old prefabs which have been nailed up and their roofs repaired.

We should remind ourselves that this is the centre that discovered a link between contaminated blood products and hepatitis C, something for which every woman should be grateful. The Cork centre is the only one, apart from a laboratory in a maternity unit in Galway general hospital, that has received a quality assured ISO mark. The IBTS headquarters in Dublin has never achieved this quality mark. The Cork centre achieved the quality mark under appalling conditions, leaking roofs, prefabs over 20 years old and no certainty about the future of the unit. Imagine what it could have done had it had ideal working conditions.

This saga began with the Finlay tribunal. The main recommendation from that awful tribunal was that the blood transfusion service in Cork should be upgraded and a new building put in place. That was in 1997. In 2001, the Joint Committee on Health and Children supported the Finlay recommendation but still the IBTS dragged its heels and nothing was done. As a compromise, it was agreed to appoint a panel of experts agreed by the IBTS and a sub-committee of the Southern Health Board. Those international experts, recognised as experts in their field, recommended that Ireland should have a second test centre to ensure a safe, secure, speedy service.

People may not be aware of this, but doctors and consultants in the south are concerned about this centre that has served the country well. Everyone from the expert panel to doctors and clients are concerned about those whose health and safety this Government is charged with protecting. The experts say that two centres is the way to go. The question remains why we are still waiting on a new building. Will we have to wait for this new building as long as we have been waiting for BreastCheck? What is happening and where is the building?

Everyone agrees that the scandal that was hepatitis C and the infection of haemophiliacs through contaminated blood products should not have happened and can never be allowed to happen again. The only way to avoid it is by having two test centres, one of which happens to be located in Cork and serves the Munster region.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Lynch for raising this matter. I make this reply on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service is a national organisation that plays an essential role in the health services of this State. Despite the challenges of recent years, not least the particular difficulty presented by vCJD, the service has risen to the challenge and maintained the national blood supply to hospitals.

The Munster centre is an integral part of the national organisation. While there have been acknowledged difficulties with the facilities available to the Munster centre, the Tánaiste is confident that the service provided to the people of the Munster region is on a par with services nationally. I assure the Deputy the Tánaiste is aware of the difficulties with the current building in Cork and is working with the board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service to develop a suitable alternative.

The development brief for the new Munster centre project was submitted to the Department by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service in March 2003. The capital cost of the project, inclusive of special testing facilities, is estimated at more than €30 million. The Tánaiste has asked me to assure the House that provision is included in the Department's capital plan for 2005 to allow the appointment of a design team and commencement of the planning process. While planning for the new centre is in progress, the IBTS board approved an interim development for the Munster centre in November 2003. The 660 sq. m. facilities which were completed in December 2004 were developed on the St. Finbarr's Hospital site at a cost of approximately €3 million which was met from the resources of the IBTS. The Tánaiste understands that the Irish Medicines Board, which is the competent authority for the IBTS, has recently inspected the new facilities and is satisfied that they meet the required good manufacturing practice requirements for the immediate future.

While there is no argument that this development is an interim solution and that permanent new premises are required for the Munster centre, there has nonetheless been considerable additional investment at the centre over the years. A new components laboratory was provided at a cost of more than €600,000, a second consultant post was approved and new posts in quality assurance and information technology were also approved in recent years. The Progesa integrated computer system went live in Cork in March 2003, before Dublin which went live in May that year. The posts of laboratory manager and quality assurance officer were filled last year on a permanent basis. The centre also took delivery last year of Galileo, a sophisticated new automated processing machine.

The Munster centre also participates in and benefits from national developments. A strategic plan is being finalised which will guide the activities of the service nationally over the next few years and enable the service to meet the challenges of a changing environment and to maintain its position at the forefront of international developments in transfusion medicine.

The Tánaiste is being kept fully briefed about the position regarding developments at both the national centre and the Munster centre of the IBTS. She has asked me to assure the Deputy that she reiterates the Government's commitment to ensuring that the IBTS continues to have sufficient resources to maintain the highest possible standards in blood transfusion practice at all locations throughout the service.