A new report which tracked the health of more than 1,100 people in the State who contracted hepatitis C from contaminated blood products has found almost 10 per cent of them went on to show signs of liver disease.
Some 6 per cent - more than 70 people - developed cirrhosis of the liver, 10 developed liver cancer and 111 are dead.
Only 37 per cent of them had ever received anti-viral treatment. Ten have received liver transplants.
However, the report, published yesterday, contains data on only 73 per cent of those who were infected with hepatitis C from contaminated blood products, therefore the true figures for the overall numbers who have developed liver disease could be higher.
The database has been compiled by the national Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) from patients' medical records.
The total number of people on the database now is 1,192 and the total numbers eligible for inclusion are 1,643.
Some 770 of those on the database contracted their infection through anti-D, 284 contracted hepatitis C from blood transfusions and 107 contracted their infection from clotting products.
Hepatitis C was first identified in 1989.
Brian O'Mahony, of the Irish Haemophilia Society, said the proportion of those on the database who went on to develop liver disease was higher among the haemophilia population at about 16 per cent.
Death rates were also higher in this group. Some 41 per cent of those with haemophilia who developed hepatitis C have died.
He added that while the report stated only 37 per cent of those infected had taken treatment, it had to be appreciated this was because many of the treatments were not very effective.
"The majority of people are genotype 1 which in fact is the least amenable to successful therapy," he said.
Launching the report, Minister for Health Mary Harney said the numbers who had gone on to develop liver disease were a lot less than had been anticipated.
"It's good to know that it is substantially less than the 18 to 30 per cent that was originally thought would have liver disease as a result of contracting hepatitis C," she said.
Dr Lelia Thornton, from the HPSC, said more than three-quarters of the participants in the database had been infected now for more than 20 years.
"The literature suggests that the disease may progress particularly between 20 and 30 years, so the next decade will be a very important time to be following them up," she said.
She urged those not included on the database to date to consider joining it.