Blood suppliers inquiry considered

HEALTH Minister Micheál Martin may ask the High Court to appoint an inspector to investigate the role of international drug companies in supplying contaminated blood to Irish haemophiliacs.

This follows the publication of the damning Lindsay Tribunal report into the infection of more than 260 haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis C.

But the two-year inquiry which cost the State 20 million may not lead to any criminal prosecutions unless the Director of Public Prosecution finds there were any breaches of the criminal law.