Legal row expected at Lindsay Tribunal

Lawyers for the Lindsay Tribunal are expected to oppose an application by the Irish Haemophilia Society that the tribunal fully investigate the role of US drug firms in the infection of Irish people with HIV and Hepatitis C.

The majority of Irish haemophiliacs who contracted these diseases were infected by blood products imported from the US.

Tribunal chairperson Alison Lindsay will hear legal submissions from the IHS today insisting that the international dimension be examined, a move that is within the terms of the inquiry.

The haemophiliacs involved in the infection scandal believe the tribunal cannot unearth the full truth without investigating the US firms.

However, tribunal lawyers are expected to oppose such a probe.

This could plunge the tribunal into its biggest crisis since oral hearings began more than a year ago.