The legal team representing the Irish Haemophilia Society at the Lindsay tribunal complained to the inquiry yesterday that its clients were not getting a fair hearing when they had submissions to make.
Counsel for the IHS, Mr Martin Giblin SC, said he believed the tribunal had on at least one occasion acted in excess of its jurisdiction when it refused him permission to make a point on legal professional privilege two weeks ago. He said he was interrupted on no fewer than 13 occasions and many of the interruptions were, he claimed, "unwarranted and fallacious".
He said his clients also perceived "something of a reluctance" by the tribunal legal team to look at new material brought to its attention by the IHS. His clients were perplexed, disappointed and alarmed by this.
He added that the IHS's stance had been vindicated on a number of occasions, including last week when the Minister for Health bowed to its campaign to have documents governed by legal professional privilege released by the Department of Health to the tribunal.
Mr Giblin said he was making the submission to help the tribunal in finding out how 221 people with haemophilia became infected with HIV and hepatitis C from contaminated blood products.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Finlay SC, said he was astonished at the submission. He said there were interruptions two weeks ago because Mr Giblin attempted to introduce new material in a reply to comments on his submission.
However, he said the tribunal would regret if the IHS felt unhappy or dissatisfied with how the tribunal was doing its work.
Mr Brian McGovern SC, counsel for Prof Ian Temperley and Dr Helena Daly, agreed with Mr Finlay. He said the submission seemed to be based on the erroneous premise that the rights of the IHS were superior to other parties before the tribunal.
Judge Alison Lindsay said it was with regret she noted Mr Giblin's submission. "It's my belief that I have always acted in a courteous and proper manner."