The tribunal has found that neither Mr Barry Desmond nor Dr Rory O'Hanlon can be blamed for giving inaccurate information to the Dáil when either were serving as Minister for Health.
Mr Desmond was minister from 1982 to 1987, and Dr O'Hanlon succeeded him until 1991.
The tribunal said it was satisfied from Mr Desmond's evidence that he had almost no direct input or involvement in the formulation or implementation of the Department's policy in respect of blood products. The tribunal did not think it would be reasonable to expect him to have had a greater involvement in what was then just one aspect of a very wide portfolio of responsibilities.
Referring to Dr O'Hanlon, the tribunal said that while it would appear he gave inaccurate information to the Dáil in 1989, it would not be fair or correct to place any blame on him. He was doing no more than providing information given to him by his officials.
In dealing with the role of the Department of Health, the tribunal stressed the primary responsibility relating to availability and safety of blood and blood products lay with the BTSB. It was reasonable for the Department to rely on its expertise.
However, the Department's supervision of the BTSB was lacking in several respects, according to the tribunal. It was aware of structural weaknesses in the BTSB, and its failure to address these added to the BTSB's difficulties in handling the problems caused by AIDS.
The report noted that the Department took 17 months to respond to letters from St James's Hospital in Dublin about counselling facilities for haemophiliacs.
The gap between the first request for counselling and an appointment was 2½ years.
The Department should have "looked more sympathetically" at this.
The evidence showed the Department was active in attempting to ensure the safety of blood products and had a "real and significant" interest in the issue.
However, the Department could and should have pursued more vigorously its recommendation, set out in a press release of January 1985, that only heat-treated blood products be used.
The BTSB had continued to produce and use unheated Factor IX during 1985.
Because of the Department's lack of further enquiry and the BTSB's failure to provide updated information, the Department's wrong assumption that only heat-treated products were being provided from early 1985 appeared to continue beyond 1991.
