The potential contamination of a blood product with CJD is to be raised in the Dail today amid strong Opposition criticism of the Minister for Health and the Irish Medicines Board for their handling of the issue.
A number of questions have been tabled for Mr Cowen. They focus mainly on the delay in contacting the 268 people involved in the new scare and why no steps were taken to inform those who received the potentially contaminated batch of Amerscan Pulminate 11 of the possible risks involved.
Fine Gael's health spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, said he would be "seeking straight answers" from the Minister when he raises questions about the speed with which Mr Cowen, the Department of Health and the Irish Medicines Board acted on discovering the potential problem.
According to Mr Shatter, there is "an inexplicable contrast" between the Minister's prompt actions on the bone-in-beef scare and his Department's "heel-dragging in contacting the recipients of the at-risk batch of AP II blood products".
Mr Cowen's explanations at yesterday's press conference were described as "inadequate" by Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Roisin Shortall.
"I appreciate Minister Cowen's concern about the sensitivity required in approaching patients who have been exposed to possible contamination of an illness for which there is no verifying test. However, in light of these circumstances, one could reasonably have expected him to have acted far quicker than he did," she said.
The product had been recalled from almost 50 countries worldwide and it was "unreasonable" to assume that the news would not have filtered into the public domain.
"Those exposed to the new product have a right to know about their exposure and they certainly have a right to know about it prior to its appearance in the national media," Ms Shortall said.
Criticising the Irish Medicines Board for its failure to "properly notify" the Department, she said it amounted to "an appalling indictment". Three weeks had elapsed since the problem was discovered but so far no "concrete measures" had been put in place to assist those exposed to the product.
Describing the non-notification of people who received the blood products as "beyond belief", Democratic Left's spokeswoman on health, Ms Liz McManus, said it was a basic human right that they be made aware at the earliest opportunity about the possible contamination.
"There is also a clear public health issue which the Minister is ignoring. Why has he not taken the basic precaution of ensuring that none of those involved gives either a further blood donation or an organ donation?" she asked.
The Minister's response so far had been "feeble and shrouded in obfuscation", Ms McManus said.