I should like to thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this very serious matter on the Adjournment.
The haemophiliacs affected by the HIV virus rightly believe the Minister is playing a cat and mouse game with them. These people tragically became infected with the HIV virus through blood which had been imported through official channels. Everyone in this House must recognise that these 103 victims have a moral right to compensation and that it would be shameful for the Minister to continue to contest that legal right. Already 18 of these victims have died and at least the same number will have died before a court case can be concluded. A legal case could be strung out for years and would cost millions of pounds. However, more to the point, these people cannot wait. They face death as an imminent possibility at any stage and must be given compensation now so that they can make the best of their lives.
The Minister must realise that further delays by the Government will rightly be seen as a cynical act. Not only will it deny these people the right to some comfort during this stressful time but it will significantly reduce the possibility of compensation being awarded to the families of those people who have died. The Minister must clearly demonstrate to the House that he is not making such a callous calculation as the potential for savings to the Exchequer.
Since the Minister met the Irish Haemophilia Society in December about the possibility of a settlement, five compensatable victims have died. The Haemophilia Society made a submission in January in good time for the budget outlining how a settlement could be reached, but the budget came and went without any word of a settlement. The Minister failed to respond to that submission within the expected time. I believe the Government know there are precedents for the payment of such compensation. They have looked generously on cases like this in the past, particularly the Stardust case which affected people in my constituency. Settlements were fixed outside the court on that occasion, and this procedure must be repeated in this case.
It has been mentioned that there are other defendants and that their insurers should carry some of the costs. While I agree with that suggestion I want to refer to the facts. It is almost two years since this claim was initiated and since then the Minister has had plenty of time to work out a share out of costs with the other parties who have been cited as defendants but that has not happened. All the omens are that it will not be easy to work out such a shared agreement. Above all, the Minister must not set as a pre-condition for a settlement offer that he has an agreed share out with the others. If he could sit down tomorrow and reach an agreement with them that would be fine, but the expectation must be that they will not agree without going to court. That is the nature of insurance companies and that is the way they look at such matters. The Minister, as the public representative of a caring community in Ireland, must settle this claim now and, if necessary, pursue the other parties for their rightful share.
The British Tory Government, who are not renowned for either their flexibility or generosity, have cut through the legal maze and offered sums of up to £100,000 per victim. Our Government should at least do the same and not add to the suffering of these tragic victims. I believe the Minister has met the victims and has seen how their lives have been blighted by this terrible disease. I hope he will look positively on these people because an act of generosity of spirit by the Minister is called for now. I hope he can tell us tonight that that is the direction in which he will move so that he can put an offer on the table within weeks rather than months or years.
