Minister for Health Simon Harris has told RTÉ News that it will take a number of months to set up the Compensation Tribunal to deal with claims against CervicalCheck.
As legislation will be needed, it is likely to be early next year before it is established.
It has also been confirmed that there are currently 72 legal cases, with five further cases pending.
Mr Harris said that the laboratories will have to meet their costs where cases go against them at the tribunal, so this would mitigate some of the overall costs.
He has confirmed that at the tribunal the State will admit liability for the non-disclosure of the audit results.
The cost of this is not known yet.
However, the issue of any negligence would have to be determined on a case by case basis.
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Judge Charles Meenan’s report, published yesterday, said that liability for non-disclosure of the audit results rested with the State, not the laboratories.
Meanwhile, a member of the 221+ CervicalCheck Patient Support Group has said women and families affected by the controversy will still have to prove negligence and go through an adversarial system to get compensation.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Lorraine Walsh said that while hearings would be in private and be less formal than a court process campaigners were not overly excited or bowled over by it - as the recommendations mean all the women and families have to prove negligence in their own case and still have to go through a courts system and fight it.
Ms Walsh, said allowing that both sides can still go to the High Court, herself and the other members of 221+ are eager that the legislation to set up the tribunal, happens in a timely manner and that the process gets moving along.
She said Judge Meenan had assured them that the tribunal would shorten the process.
