THE report of the hepatitis C tribunal has been completed and has been given to the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, by the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Thomas Finlay.
The report is now due to go before a meeting of the Cabinet next week. It is believed that the former Minister for Health, Mr Howlin, also received a copy of the report. Mr Howlin, now Minister for the Environment, was criticised at the tribunal for his handling of the hepatitis C scandal.
Copies of the report are being printed and it is expected it will be published next Tuesday following the Cabinet consideration of it, or on Wednesday.
The tribunal began hearing evidence in early December and continued until February 4th. It sat for 24 days, and evidence was heard from more than 50 witnesses, including Mr Noonan, Mr Howlin, employees of the Blood Transfusion Service Board, Department of Health officials and people who had contracted hepatitis C as a result of receiving anti-D and other blood products.