The Government is expected to outline its full proposals for Garda reform in a special Dáil debate today on the Morris tribunal.
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen told the Dáil the four-hour series of statements represented the "beginning of the response to the Morris tribunal and the systemic problems that have been identified by the report".
Deflecting Opposition criticism that the debate's format would "diminish" Mr Justice Frederick Morris and the Dáil and would be the parliamentary equivalent of "chewing the cud", the Minister said it was "not the beginning and the end of the story, but simply a series of formal statements that have been used before for such matters".
Mr Cowen stated the Government "looks forward to giving its full position on the report and on the process of reform it intends to pursue".
Opposition objections to the format of the discussion were rejected by 63 votes to 47.
Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton said that Mr Justice Morris, chairman of the tribunal that investigated the activities of gardaí in Donegal, had "criticised the way in which the Dáil has handled the issue and has asked us to look very carefully at the Garda Síochána Bill in the light of his report".
He added that "nothing could be graver than the report we have seen".
The Minister for Justice had said the Dáil was the authority that would hold the Garda accountable.
But the format of the debate would leave "no opportunity to question the Minister or his predecessor, minister John O'Donoghue. The Dáil will not have an opportunity to adopt a resolution on foot of the Morris tribunal," Mr Bruton said.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte claimed it would "diminish Mr Justice Morris and this House for the Government merely to allow statements in an abridged debate without the possibility of tabling a motion that commits the Government to implementing the recommendations in the report".