A leading Irish AIDS activist has condemned the jailing of a Scottish man today for infecting his girlfriend with the virus through unprotected sex.

Paddy Connolly, the chief executive officer of Cairde, described the five year sentence as 'a prescriptive response' and has expressed concern that it might dissuade people from being tested for the disease and coming forward for treatment.

"If people are going to be irresponsible it is very hard to legislate for that", he acknowledged. "But it is not going to solve the problem of infection by having a law about it. You are linking a criminal activity to a disease that already carries a stigma".

The 33 year-old Scottish man was sentenced today under a new Scottish law that considers having unprotected sex while knowingly HIV positive to be culpable and reckless conduct.

The Department of Justice told irishhealth.com that while needlestick assaults (attacks on others using syringes) are named as offences in the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, there is as yet no precedent set in the Irish legal system for prosecuting a person for infecting another with HIV through sexual intercourse.