Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy David Stanton, for coming to the House.

The Bill is a result of the hepatitis C scandal. Out of the 1,700 women who were knowingly infected by contaminated blood products, 240 had haemophilia, of whom, to date, 112, or nearly half, have died. One could imagine of the 1,700 who were knowingly infected by they health service by contaminated blood products, that at least half of them are dead. In 2005 the Law Reform Commission produced a report, Report on Corporate Killing, LRC 77-2005, in which it recommended the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Bill. The Corporate Manslaughter (No. 2) Bill is long overdue, not just because of the hepatitis C scandal but also a litany of cases in which people died as a result of action or inaction, for example, the fire at the Stardust nightclub, in respect of which the families involved continue to be affected. Was there inaction? The answer is yes. Did things happen because of breaches of the fire code such as fire exits being locked? The answer is yes. The train crash near Cherryville junction in County Kildare in 1983 and at Buttevant, County Cork in 1980 were the result of serious mismanagement. The Whiddy Island disaster was the result of a decision taken by the owner of the Betelgeuseat board of management level not to renew longitudinal and codation protections for economic reasons. If the instruments had been in place, the accident would not have happened. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service and the Health and Safety Authority have a range of convictions but only in relation to accidents at work.

Let us bear in mind that the contentious section of the Corporate Manslaughter Bill is section 3 which I have read numerous times this week, but this is literally the Bill the Law Reform Commission produced in 2005 which contains an offence of grossly negligent management causing death. Section 3(a) refers to where management knew or ought reasonably to have known of the substantial risk of death or serious personal harm, failed to take reasonable efforts to eliminate that risk or that failure fell far below what could reasonably have been expected in the circumstances. Let me state what was included in the reply I received from the Department of Justice and Equality that a fear of prosecution could militate against the public interest by discouraging employees in certain sectors from being candid about mistakes and that the perception of potential liability to prosecution could have a chilling effect. Let us bear in mind that this is the reason the Department wanted section 3 to be removed.

The hepatitis C scandal occurred nearly 30 years ago when 1,700 people were knowingly infected. The person concerned knew that the product was contaminated. If it is of any comfort, we were not alone, as the same happened in France where people were knowingly infected with HIV and the government knew it. There was a trial, but it was a farce as nobody went to jail.

The response from the Department on the most critical section is that it actually could cause those who know not to act. We have seen that failure time and again, where people knew and did not act. Why did they not act? They simply did not care. There were economic consequences and as they were management, they did not act. If they did not act in the public interest, my argument is that section 3 should remain in full in the Bill, as recommended not by Fianna Fáil but by the Law Reform Commission because 1,700 people were given a death sentence when they were contaminated by the health service as a result of serious mismanagement. If people will not act in the public interest, they might act in their own because they would go to jail for up to 12 years because of their inaction or an omission. We have been unable to get the health service to act in the public interest. Senior management has failed time and again. It needs to be held to held to account, not by being fired but by being put in jail because it is putting women in their graves. Unfortunately, that has been seen to happen time and again.