The Government is to introduce legislation to grant anonymity to haemophiliacs who give evidence in criminal prosecutions arising from the contamination of blood products with the HIV virus.
It is understood the measure is to be contained in the Criminal Justice Bill, 2004, currently being prepared by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.
The move, which had been sought by the Irish Haemophilia Society, could encourage haemophiliacs to lodge formal complaints with the Garda.
Some were reportedly reluctant to make formal complaints on the basis they would have to give evidence in public in any subsequent criminal trial.
In 2002, the Cabinet forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions the report of the Lindsay tribunal into the contamination of blood products with the HIV virus. While a Garda inquiry has been ongoing, no one has been charged in relation to the contamination.
Eighty-eight haemophiliacs have died as result of receiving contaminated blood products, while 270 have been infected with the HIV virus.
Last year it emerged that the Department of Health had delayed for nine months responding to a request from the DPP for assistance in relation to a potential criminal investigation into the contaminated blood products scandal.
Department of Health sources last night told The Irish Times that the new criminal justice legislation, which is likely to be published in the autumn, "will contain statutory provisions in relation to the anonymity of witnesses with certain conditions including victims infected by contaminated blood products".
It has also emerged that the Government has commissioned a law firm in the United States to advise on the feasibility of instituting proceedings against the international pharmaceutical companies which supplied contaminated blood products.
The move follows complaints by the Irish Haemophilia Society that the Government had ignored an offer from another US law firm, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein, which specialises in personal injury cases, to initiate a class action against the pharmaceutical firms on a "no foal no fee basis".
The State has received unsolicited legal opinion from a US law firm about recovering damages from the international pharmaceutical companies and it is understood that this advice had been considered by the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor's Office.
However, there had been potential legal and constitutional difficulties regarding the State becoming involved in legal action on a "no foal no fee" basis.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said yesterday the Government had instructed a separate law firm in the US to advise on the feasibility of instituting proceedings against "suitable defendants".
That law firm will look at the legal position in various US states. The spokeswoman said it was hoped that final advice would be available to the Government by the end of the year.
This is the second time the Government has examined the feasibility of suing the international pharmaceutical companies over the contaminated blood scandal.
A previous report from a top Irish lawyer is understood to have been pessimistic about the prospects of such action.
