Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The blood transfusion service is still finding a few people who are infected every year. On the diagnosis, separate from the tests, it concerns rhesus negative women who had a baby whose father was rhesus positive. In time, they can also have a raised ALT level, joint pain and so forth. This is not a large amorphous group. It is a group who are within a clearly defined at-risk category who also have these symptoms. That is a perfect legitimate way of targeting that group. If the original legislation was sloppily drafted so that the courts did not have to ensure the person received infected blood, then the fault lies with it. The Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children must accept that the representative groups are outraged by this. They will never trust the Department of Health and Children again. They know the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children will move on and a new Minister will be appointed but they will never trust the Department again because they believe they were let down.