The Minister for Health has agreed to release to the Lindsay tribunal confidential Government files on the HIV blood scandal which to date have been withheld from the inquiry.
Following a meeting with the Irish Haemophilia Society yesterday, Mr Martin said he had "decided to waive privilege over any documents within my control" and to instruct them to be handed over to the tribunal.
The decision follows lobbying by the IHS after tribunal chairwoman Judge Alison Lindsay's ruling last week that all parties were entitled to claim legal privilege over certain documents. The files to be released include those relating to the Government's 1991 compensation scheme for haemophiliacs infected with HIV.
The tribunal has heard evidence to suggest that officials in the Blood Transfusion Service Board were aware that seven victims had been infected through a clotting agent made at Pelican House. The IHS believes the new documentation may show whether Department officials shared this knowledge when it reached its no-fault settlement with victims.
Had the victims known they were infected by locally made products, they could have expected higher compensation payments. Five of the seven victims have died. One of them passed on HIV to his wife.
Ms Rosemary Daly, IHS administrator, urged other agencies, in particular the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (formerly the BTSB) and the National Drugs Advisory Board to follow Mr Martin's example.
Neither body indicated last week it would do so, and Mr Martin said the constitutional rights of other parties had to be acknowledged. He added, however, that given the sad histories of the episode "we have an onus to be as helpful as we possibly can".
About 221 haemophiliacs were infected with HIV and/or hepatitis C through blood products. Seventy-six have died. The hearings resume on Tuesday.
