Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is awaiting a detailed Garda report on the case of Dean Lyons who was wrongly charged with the murder of two women.
Mr McDowell said he would consider the matter further, "taking into account any further submissions made to me, advice from the Attorney General and the further report from the Garda authorities".
However, the Minister reiterated his view that he was "not satisfied that the Garda investigation has fallen short of the standard required by the European Convention on Human Rights, or of the potential effectiveness of a full public tribunal of inquiry".
He said that the criminal investigation into the murders was not closed and this would have clear implications for what further action, if any, he might consider.
"As a general principle, the release into the public domain of any existing report on the conduct of an investigation which is not closed, the holding of an inquiry or the issuing of an explanation of events, all of which have been suggested in this case, may be prejudicial to any prosecution with regard to crimes which might be commenced in the future," said Mr McDowell.
The Minister was replying to Labour leader Pat Rabbitte who said that a number of fundamental questions remained unanswered.
"How did it transpire that a strung-out heroin addict confessed in such a manner and in such accurate, and unpublished, detail when he did not commit the murders?" asked Mr Rabbitte.
He said that in July 1997, Dean Lyons, a homeless heroin addict, was arrested and questioned in connection with the brutal killing of two vulnerable women in sheltered health board accommodation in Grangegorman.
He admitted to every charge put to him.
His parents, said Mr Rabbitte, said he was completely disoriented and was swaying and slurring his words.
"As a result, he made a written statement containing a chronologically correct narrative about the murders in clear grammatical English and with vivid and chilling accuracy he described the murder scene," said Mr Rabbitte. "On the basis of his confession, he was charged with the murders."
