A report on the legal strategy pursued in the case of the late Mrs Brigid McCole is expected to be approved by Cabinet on Monday. Following yesterday's weekly meeting of Cabinet, a Government spokesman confirmed that all the legal documentation on the case had been examined in the Department of Health.
The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, briefed colleagues yesterday and is now in the process of drafting the report for presentation to the last Cabinet meeting before the summer recess.
The McCole family will be given the report after it is approved by Ministers, but it is not clear when the document will be published. The report will outline what, if any, involvement the last government had in the legal strategy adopted in the McCole case.
The Donegal woman was the first to die as a direct result of receiving contaminated anti-D product from the Blood Transfusion Services Board. She settled for damages of £175,000 just hours before her death last year.
Fianna Fail, then in Opposition, severely criticised the "heavy-handed" and "jackboot" tactics adopted in the case and promised, if in government, to reveal details of why that strategy was ever embraced.
The Government spokesman last night said that Mr Cowen, the Attorney General, Mr David Byrne, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, had all been involved in the "consultation process".