Mr Chief Justice Ronan Keane has disqualified himself from the supreme court appeal by the Minister for Health against a High Court ruling earlier this year on compensation awards to victims of contaminated blood products.
The ruling effectively allows a person infected with Hep C from a contaminated blood product to accept an award from the Compensation Tribunal and then appeal to the High Court.
Mr Justice Keane will outline his reasons for disqualifying himself from the appeal at a sitting of the Supreme Court tomorrow morning. He will also fix a date for a full hearing.
Last July, Mr Justice Iarflaith O'Neill ruled in the High Court that a person who accepted an award from the Hep C Tribunal was not automatically excluded from appealing to the High Court. The state is challenging the ruling.