The Government is opposed to a full judicial inquiry into the 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombings, following publication of the Barron report.
Last night, Government sources indicated they feared such an investigation would become as expensive and long-running as the Saville Bloody Sunday Inquiry.
The Oireachtas Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights Committee has three months to hold its own hearings into the findings produced by Mr Justice Barron.
Chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Mr Seán Ardagh, the Oireachtas Committee will recommend whether an inquiry would "be required, or fruitful", though it cannot compel witnesses to attend, or make findings of fact subsequently.
However, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, repeatedly deflected questions about the need for a public inquiry or otherwise, when he was questioned in Dublin yesterday.
The Oireachtas Committee has been given authority to recommend whether one should now be held, he said in Iveagh House: "We await those recommendations." Meanwhile, he declined the opportunity to encourage the Fine Gael and Labour ministers who served in the 1973/77 cabinet to appear before the Oireachtas Committee hearings.
Time is now needed to "study the implications of the report": "We have made the decision to await the outcome of the committee's deliberations," he declared.
The Government, according to sources, believes a full judicial inquiry would not yield sufficient rewards, since many of the central figures involved are now dead.
Meanwhile, members of the 1973/77 cabinet have remained silent after the inquiry's sharp criticisms of their performance following the bombings.
Mr Garret Fitzgerald, who served as minister for foreign affairs in that cabinet, said he would not respond until he had fully studied the 288-page report.
Mr Peter Barry, who was minister for transport and power at the time of the bombings, said he was "out of politics for a long time", and had not yet received a copy of the document.
Former minister for justice Mr Paddy Cooney equally said he had not yet studied the document and would not make any comment until he had, if then.
In his findings, Mr Justice Barron said the government had shown "an apparent lack of interest" in tracking down the bombers who killed 33 people, including a pregnant woman.
The surviving cabinet members, who were led by the taoiseach, Mr Liam Cosgrave, will now be invited to make submissions to the Justice Committee.
The committee has set a deadline of January 9th for receipt of submissions, and it hopes to begin public hearings on January 20th with testimony from relatives of those killed and injured.
Mr Greg O'Neill, the solicitor representing many of the families, said a full public inquiry must now be ordered by the Government into the atrocities and their aftermath.
However, he said he believed that a repeat of the lengthy Saville inquiry, which is expected to cost £155 million sterling to complete, could be avoided.
The Fine Gael/Labour Cabinet had moral obligations, he said: "There was an amazing lack of commitment and follow-through from people who went on television and said that it was an unforgivable act and that no stone would be left unturned until those responsible were brought to justice.
"We are simply not going to be bought off by saying that this all happened a long time ago. It was not our fault," he told The Irish Times.
The families' group, Justice for the Forgotten, will review its legal options over coming weeks, though it has not decided to seek compensation from the Irish and British governments.
