WOMEN who have been offered hepatitis C compensation awards will be able to wait until a month after publication of the report of Mr Justice Finlay's Tribunal of Inquiry into the scandal before deciding decide whether to accept.
This was made clear yesterday by the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, at a press conference announcing a national cancer strategy.
Until now women had a month to accept an award from the compensation tribunal. Mr Noonan said he had accepted representations from the Positive Action group, representing many women affected by hepatitis C due to contaminated anti-D, that the deadline for accepting compensation should be extended in this way.
The women are known to have been concerned that their rights could be affected if they accepted an award before the conclusions of Mr Finlay's tribunal.
The tribunal, which opened yesterday, is not expected to report until early next year.
