Negotiations on legislation providing for the payment of a fresh round of compensation to haemophiliacs infected with HIV are at an advanced stage and it is understood top-up payouts could be made early next year.
Some 105 persons in the State with haemophilia were infected with HIV from contaminated blood products during the 1980s and the cost of compensating them is expected to run into millions of pounds. Of those who were infected, 61 have died.
In 1991, infected persons, along with the families of haemophiliacs who had died of HIV, accepted an £8 million compensation package from the then minister for health, Mr Rory O'Hanlon.
The £8 million provided tiered benefits for infected haemophiliacs, ranging from £20,000 for families who had lost a child to HIV infection, to £100,000 for a married man with children.
However, in evidence to the Lindsay tribunal, which resumes tomorrow, many HIV victims said they had been under pressure to accept compensation in the early 1990s because death was staring them or their relatives in the face. They believed what they got "in full and final settlement" was totally inadequate.
During his term as minister for health, Mr Cowen agreed to review the original settlement and last December the Government announced that a compensation tribunal similar to the hepatitis C compensation tribunal should be set up to adequately compensate haemophiliacs. Since then, the Irish Haemophilia Society has been negotiating the content of the new legislation with the State.
A spokesman for the Department of Health confirmed yesterday the legislation was being drafted and said the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, was committed to introducing it in the autumn.
Ms Rosemary Daly, administrator of the Irish Haemophilia Society, said the compensation was long overdue.