Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 11 Dec 1997

Vol. 485 No. 1

Written Answers. - Hepatitis C Compensation Claims.

Alan Shatter

Ceist:

80 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children whether any civil actions remain pending in the courts brought against the Blood Transfusion Service Board by claimants who have contracted hepatitis C; if so, the number of these cases; and the approach, if any, being taken by the Government regarding these claims. [22571/97]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

There are 744 civil actions pending in the courts against the Blood Transfusion Service Board and others which have been brought by persons who contracted hepatitis C through the administration within the State of blood and blood products. The majority of these persons have also lodged claims with the hepatitis C compensation tribunal and I would hope that the bulk of cases will be resolved in that forum. In order to expedite the processing of claims before the compensation tribunal, I have made arrangements under section 8 of the hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act, 1997 to provide for the settlement of claims. The arrangements will operate as informally as possible and in a manner which ensures that settlement offers are made as early as possible. Settlement offers will be based on the same criteria applied by the tribunal under section 5 of the Act in relation to the level of awards. Where a claimant accepts a settlement offer, the claimant is entitled to an additional amount of 20 per cent from the reparation fund established under section 11 of the Act, in lieu of the tribunal assessing and awarding aggravated or exemplary damages. I will shortly be making additional appointments to the tribunal and I anticipate that this will facilitate a greater throughput of cases for decision before the tribunal.

With regard to persons who have decided to pursue court proceedings rather than going before the compensation tribunal, my objective is to ensure that they will be required to establish no more or no less than the proofs which are required to obtain compensation before the tribunal, and that the cases will thus be dealt with as an assessment of damages only. As the House is aware, the BTSB has decided that it will admit liability for negligence in court proceedings where plaintiffs were directly or indirectly infected with the hepatitis C through anti-D Immunoglobulin supplied by the board. In such proceedings, and in other court proceedings where plaintiffs allege infection with hepatitis C from blood, blood components or derivatives supplied by the board, the BTSB will admit the findings of fact contained in the report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the BTSB. This admission will enable the plaintiffs to recover full compensatory damages in the proceedings without having to prove negligence and they will, therefore, be able to treat the proceedings as an assessment of compensatory damages only. If the plaintiffs wish, the court, at the hearing of the proceedings, will only be asked to determine three issues, namely: the amount of compensatory damages to be awarded; whether aggravatedexemplary damages ought to be awarded; and if so, the amount of such damages.

The legal advice available to me is that the State itself is not liable, except in a limited number of cases arising out of the facts described in chapter 6 of the report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the BTSB. This relates to the delay in the introduction of hepatitis C screening between February 1991 and September 1991. The State proposes to admit liability in such cases. In addition, the State also proposes to admit liability in any case which is attributable to the inadequate recall procedure as outlined in chapter 13 of the report. As these cases identify themselves, the State will admit liability at the earliest opportunity. Everything possible will be done to facilitate an early hearing of cases before the court.