SOLICITORS for up to a dozen IRA prisoners convicted on the basis of Semtex traces will be notified "within days" if their clients are affected by yesterday's admission of forensic contamination at a government laboratory in Britain.
The British Labour Party described the contamination at Britain's main Forensic Explosives Laboratory in Sevenoaks, Kent, as "very serious" and demanded that the Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, make an emergency Commons statement today to explain why he failed to admit the problem immediately after scientists discovered it in March.
Although British Home Office officials refused to identify the 12 cases which are to be "thoroughly, rigorously and speedily" investigated, it is understood that they all relate to IRA convictions since 1989.
Lawyers described the contamination as an "alarming and horrific situation" and predicted that it would "go to the heart" of the evidence in a number of key IRA cases.
Mr Michael Mansfield, a barrister for the Birmingham Six, said. "There have been substantial recommendations for tightening quality control, none of which have been put into effect. Contamination and the risk of contamination are things which have been on the tip of people's tongues. Everyone has known about the risk, and it should have been countered and revealed at an earlier stage."
It is believed that the 1994 conviction of Irishman Sean McNulty for conspiring to bomb an oil terminal and gas works in North Shields, in the north east of England, is among those to be investigated.
Announcing an inquiry yesterday, the Home Secretary pledged that, if it revealed any miscarriages of justice, he would refer the cases back to the Court of Appeal.
"The chances of there having been a miscarriage of justice as a result of what has been discovered are very small, but I don't want to take any risks or leave any stone unturned", Mr Howard said.
Forensic scientists discovered the contamination while cleaning a centrifuge machine, which has been a crucial piece of equipment used in the analysis of evidence in all bomb cases since 1989. Traces of the explosive RDX, a substance found in Semtex, were discovered on a rubber bung.
Although scientists stressed that the contamination was minute 16 times smaller than a grain of sugar Home Office officials admitted that the amount was significant for the kind of quantities involved in analysing explosives.
The Sevenoaks laboratory has tested over 500 separate samples from bomb scenes and suspects since 1989.
Ms Gareth Peirce, the solicitor who represented the Birmingham Six and Judith Ward, suggested that forensic contamination in Britain's laboratories has been prevalent for years and cited the case of Mr Daniel McBrearty, an Irishman who was arrested for the possession of explosives in 1989 solely on the basis of swab tests by the Seven oaks laboratory. After spending several months on remand in prison insisting that he was innocent, magistrates finally dropped the case, but refused to give their reasons.
In Dublin, a Government spokesman said that the inquiry was a matter for the British authorities, but its results would be awaited with interest.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on prisons, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, said that it was not sufficient for Mr Howard to announce an independent review. "It must be a public inquiry, the findings must be published, and the people whose cases have possibly been affected should be told" he said.
The vice president of Sinn Fein, Mr Pat Doherty, said that it "seemed incredible" that forensic scientists had not checked their equipment for seven years. "This admission is indicative of an entire legal apparatus used against Irish people to secure convictions in British courts."
Dr Sidney Alford, an explosives expert, said that the contamination was unlikely to affect those convicted of making bombs or cases where explosives had been recovered. The area off doubt would centre on cases where the evidence relied only upon traces of Semtex.
"The presence of even tiny traces of explosives on clothing, or fingernail clippings might be crucial to a conviction or to freedom", be explained.
The independent inquiry will be led by Professor Brian Cady, who investigated the flawed scientific evidence against the Birmingham Six and the Maguires.