A Government inquiry in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings will now be completed at the end of January, it emerged tonight.
A Commission of Investigation led by veteran barrister Patrick MacEntee was set up in April and had been due to report within six months.
But a 25-page interim report by the Commission was published tonight in order to secure an extension of time until January 31.
Nobody has ever been convicted in relation to the bombings which killed 33 people.
Mr MacEntee is investigating why the original Garda investigation was wound down less than a year after the atrocities, without anyone being charged for the offences.
He is also probing why specific leads were not followed by gardaí and why one of the suspects in the bombings was never interviewed by gardai.
The Commission of Investigation, set up under new legislation, can demand documents and compel witnesses to attend private hearings.
Justice Henry Barron, who led the Oireachtas inquiry into the bombings, found that all the documents relating to the investigation into the Dublin bombing had gone missing, as well as security information files from the time.