A man infected with HIV from a blood product made by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service has served a writ on the Minister for Health. The man, who is not being identified, is taking the legal action to overturn a 1991 compensation settlement deal in which the Government paid out the punt equivalent of over €10m in "full and final settlement".
The man is one of only seven people to be infected with HIV from Irish clotting agents - five of the others have already died. The Government has accepted that the 1991 deal was not fair but for more than two years has been attempting to draft legislation so that additional payments could be made.
The legal action was prompted by the fact that legislation was promised to be introduced in the lifetime of the Government but has not happened. Minister for Health Mícheal Martin has defended himself by saying the issue is very complex but that he is going to show the Irish Haemophilia Society draft legislation next Thursday.
He re-iterated this commitment at a meeting in Cork this morning, which was attended by haemophiliacs infected with HIV and the family members of those who have died. More than 100 Irish haemophiliacs contracted HIV from blood products, most of which were imported. Sixty-four have died to date from AIDS-related illnesses.
