Limerick East): The Health Research Board, which was established in 1986 under the Health (Corporate Bodies) Act, 1961, is the statutory agency charged with the commissioning and conduct of medical and health research in Ireland.
The health care package which I agreed in December 1995 with the four groups representing those infected with hepatitis C through the receipt within the State of blood and blood products included a commitment to establish a special research programme on hepatitis C. I have approved funding over £1 million to be made available to the Health Research Board over the next five years for such research.
In March 1996, the Health Research Board invited proposals from interested research groups for project studies into some of the key areas relating to hepatitis C infection, particularly as it relates to persons infected through the use of anti-D. In all, a total of eight projects were approved. The most significant project concerns the establishment of a special hepatitis C research unit which will involve St. Vincent's Elm Park, St. James's Hospital/Trinity College, University College, Dublin and St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. The unit will undertake a range of collaborative research activities, using an inter-disciplinary team of research investigators, which, it is hoped, will lead to the development of improved approaches to the control of the hepatitis C infection.
In addition to the new research unit, the Health Research Board has also approved projects which will be undertaken by research teams at University College, Cork, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Cork University Hospital, the Mater Hospital, a joint project between the BTSB and St. James's Hospital, and a joint project between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Mater Hospital.
It is anticipated that these research studies will provide new insights into hepatitis C infection and lead to improvements in the care and treatment of patients.
One of the functions of the Consultative Council on Hepatitis C, which I established in November 1996, will be to advise and make recommendations to me, as Minister for Health, on developments arising from such research into hepatitis C.