Chief Superintendent Derek Byrne is expected to recommend sweeping changes in procedures in dealing with information received from foreign police.

It is now doubtful whether the investigation into the Irish suspects will result in prosecutions because of the seven-month delay in acting on the tipoff from the Austrians.

Sources say that an Interpol staff member failed to realise the seriousness of the email sent from Austria because the message was badly-flagged, longwinded and difficult to read.

Nevertheless, it is accepted that there is a need for improvement in how the hundreds of messages received every day from other police forces are assessed and prioritised.

An investigation by Austrian police identified over 2,300 computer users from 77 countries who had accessed a website showing young children being sexually abused. Two of these users came from Ireland and gardai at the Dublin Interpol office in Phoenix Park were informed via email.

The email was headed 'Operation Flo: Distribution of Child Pornography on the Internet', but sources say that, because its importance was not flagged, it slipped through the system and was not picked up.

Gardai originally said they had not been contacted by the Austrian authorities, but after checking Interpol records the garda press office issued a statement confirming that it received the correspondence on 22 August 2006 and an investigation had been launched.

It could take over a month before the identities of the Irish users are determined because gardai do not have enough information.

It remains to be seen whether the investigation is successful because of the delay and the publicity that the case has received. It is feared that the computers of the two Irish suspects may be destroyed before gardai get to interview them.

Chief Superintendent Byrne, the officer in charge of the Dublin Metropolitan South Central region, can recommend disciplinary action be taken against the staff involved but the Minister for Justice has already indicated that he believes that the failure was a result of human error and that punishment is not necessarily the best course of action.

The child pornography ring was discovered last July when an Austrian internet firm contacted police after noticing that hackers uploaded the material onto its server. The website is said to contain "the worst kind of sexual abuse".

The videos of the abuse are thought to have been taken in eastern Europe and uploaded onto the internet in the UK. Eight thousand people accessed the website over 24 hours before it was shut down.

Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said the failure to pursue those who access images of children being abused was an "absolute disaster".