The Government's announced the establishment of an independent statutory tribunal to deal with claims arising from CervicalCheck.

It will be chaired by Ms Justice Mary Irvine. 

Preparatory work on the tribunal will begin as soon as possible ahead of its full establishment later in 2019.

Hearings will be held in private, with officials noting it will be "less adversarial" than the claims being heard in court.

They stressed that the tribunal's establishment will not restrict the right of women or their families in giving evidence in the High Court if they wish.

Today's announcement comes after the Health Minister secured Government approval to prepare legislative proposals for the tribunal as a matter of priority,

In a statement this evening, the Government acknowledged this will take time to establish.

Minister Simon Harris said: "The Tribunal will allow women to progress their cases in a timely and sensitive, less adversarial manner, while equally respecting the constitutional entitlement of all parties to a fair hearing.

"I want to thank Ms Justice Irvine for taking on this role. I look forward to engaging with her in the new year and progressing with this work as soon as possible."

Minister Harris also confirmed he is to examine the early establishment of a compensatory scheme to provide ex-gratia payments for the 221 women and their families affected by the CervicalCheck controversy.

The announcement of the tribunal comes in the wake of a report from Justice Charles Meenan on an alternative system for dealing with cases arising from CervicalCheck.

The cervical screening scandal came to light earlier this year after Vicky Phelan settled a case against a US lab for €2.5m after being wrongly informed that she had the all clear in 2011.

It later emerged more than 200 women were not told about the clinical audit of their cancer tests.