The leader of Fine Gael, Mr Michael Noonan, who has criticised RTÉ over its blood scandal drama series No Tears, has gained support from a hepatitis C victim who claims the former minister for health has been turned into "a stage villain".
Ms Mary Quinlan, who like Ms Brigid McCole took a High Court case against the State over the infections scandal, said the series was "over-dramatised".
She said: "Michael Noonan is well able to defend himself, but I have to say he has been turned into a pure circus act, and I can't see what benefit that is to anybody."
She stressed: "I don't have any political affiliation. I'm just concerned about the accuracy of this series. It's not fictional enough to be a drama nor is it real enough to be fact."
Fine Gael yesterday declined to elaborate on Mr Noonan's statement in a weekend television interview that the series was "unfair" and "legally very risky".
A spokeswoman for the party said Mr Noonan was not commenting further on the matter at present.
Neither RTÉ nor Positive Action, the campaign group set up by infected women, would comment yesterday either, despite the fact that Mr Noonan had claimed the series contained "scenes that have been concocted for dramatic purposes which are not related to the facts".
Ms Quinlan said the series portrayed the former minister as responsible for making all the decisions regarding the State's legal strategy in the McCole case, whereas, in reality, she said, "I think he got bad legal advice".
She added: "It's hard to say but there were good people in the blood bank and elsewhere. However, this film tarnishes everybody. Michael Noonan comes out as the villain and certain people in Positive Action come out as the heroes, along with the legal people."
The character based on Mr Noonan, who is known in the series simply as "the minister" and is played by actor Mark Lambert, was first introduced last night in the third and penultimate episode.
It contained three scenes in which the former minister was shown speaking in private, either to government colleagues or Department of Health officials.
It is understood such scenes have particularly annoyed Mr Noonan as there appears to be no means of verifying such conversations took place in the manner portrayed.
One of the scenes showed "the minister" telling the character portraying the Taoiseach that he enjoyed "the tactical aspects" of politics, as the pair drove past a Positive Action picket.
The episode further suggested that it was an intervention by former Taoiseach Mr John Bruton which brought about the Department's first offer of a compensation tribunal for the victims.
Mr Noonan's character is shown reluctantly dispatching the offer to Positive Action with the words, directed at a subordinate: "Send it over to them now and that's it. No more negotiations."
The final episode contains a further three scenes in which "the minister" is shown in private settings. Most contentious of all is a scene in which the character is informed by a department official that the Blood Transfusion Service Board had admitted negligence in the case of Ms McCole, who is given the name "Grainne McFadden" in the series.
Mr Noonan has challenged claims that he was fully informed of the BTSB's legal stance in the case.
Ms Quinlan said she was concerned about other aspects of the series, including "the impression given that many children contracted the virus from their mothers".
She added: "There is also an impression that the treatment given to those infected doesn't work whereas in fact it did work for me."
