The Rainbow government knew the Blood Transfusion Service Board was negligent in the manufacture of anti-D in the 1970s before Mrs Brigid McCole began her High Court compensation action. But it was not until 17 months after the Government received this advice from the Attorney General that liability was admitted in her case by the BTSB. She died less than two weeks later from hepatitis C. In the State documents given to the McCole family yesterday evening by the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, it is clear the Rainbow government knew for two months before her case started in June 1995 that the BTSB was negligent, had no defence and was liable to have damages awarded against it if victims sued, The Irish Times has learned.
The documents show there are written records of the Cabinet discussing the McCole case on two occasions - May 28th and September 24th, 1996 - when the then Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, circulated aidememoires, updating it on the case. In neither of the memorandums did Mr Noonan seek a specific Cabinet decision about the case.
Earlier in April 1995, Mr Noonan had presented an aidememoire to the government on the general issue of hepatitis C, which had been written with the advice of the Attorney General, Mr Dermot Gleeson. It told the Cabinet that the BTSB was negligent in its manufacture of anti-D in 1976/1977.
That April memorandum warned against prejudicing any possible future legal proceedings that might be taken against the State, the BTSB, and the National Drugs Advisory Board. It was imperative, it said, that the three defendants or spokespersons on their behalf did not give any indication of negligence on the part of the three defendants.
Cabinet records show that hepatitis C was discussed by the Rainbow government on up to 10 occasions.
Mr Noonan is in France on holiday and could not be contacted for comment last night, according to a Fine Gael spokesman. It is now expected that Mr Cowen will publish the documents next Tuesday after the family has been given time to examine them over the weekend.
The handing over of the documents concluded a long battle by the family to discover who authorised the legal strategy, which had been described previously as "jackboot" by Fianna Fail, against the gravely ill Co Donegal woman. At a press conference in Dublin on May 11th, Ms Brid McCole, eldest daughter of Mrs McCole, called for the resignation of Mr Noonan because of the Rainbow Government's refusal to explain why her mother was "threatened" for pursuing a High Court compensation claim. She said it was only when her mother lay dying in a hospital just before her court action was to begin that the admission of liability and apology came from the BTSB.
"Even then she was threatened with costs if she pursued her case for aggravated damages - the same damages that this Government has said should now be paid to victims," said Ms McCole at the time.