The Government will not contest much of Ms Justice Laffoy's stinging criticism of its handling of the child sex abuse inquiry and will consider a plan for a reformed investigation as early as tomorrow. Mark Brennock and Liam Reid report.
Ministers accept that much of the judge's account of the events that led to her decision to resign is true. In her resignation letter, the judge said the Government had "stymied" the commission, and rendered it "powerless" and its mandate "inoperable".
Amid opposition demands on the Taoiseach and Government to take responsibility, the Government will now seek to move the focus away from detailed examination of its past actions. It hopes instead to bring forward a plan this week to ensure an inquiry into institutional child abuse can continue as quickly as possible.
However, it emerged yesterday that at least two Oireachtas committees are to examine circumstances leading to the Laffoy resignation and the Government's handling of the child abuse issue.
The Public Accounts Committee is expected to look at the resignation next month as part of a new inquiry into the controversial church/State deal whereby the religious orders agreed to pay €128 million towards compensation of former residents of industrial schools.
The committee is expected to examine the Laffoy resignation as part of this process, along with a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General which is expected to be highly critical of aspects of the Government's deal with the religious orders.
It has also emerged that most of the properties offered by the religious to the State as part of this deal have issues relating to title, in that the State could be precluded from selling them on.
The Oireachtas Committee on Education will also discuss the resignation briefly at a meeting tomorrow, but will await a full response from the Government before giving the matter full consideration the following week.
The Taoiseach yesterday acknowledged Judge Laffoy's letter was highly critical of the Cabinet as a whole, but added: "Our primary concern is to deal with the victims and try to assist the victims."
Government sources said yesterday that Ministers will this week consider a number of options for how to proceed. Ministers believe it is unlikely that Ms Justice Laffoy will resume chairing the inquiry, and also recognised the concern that other judges could be reluctant to take up the role after the recent debacle.
Tomorrow's Cabinet meeting will seek to agree a way forward that can be announced quickly, but the need to consult victims' groups and to seek legal advice and agreement from someone to head the inquiry means that an announcement may not come immediately.
Emphasising that the Government would not attempt a detailed rebuttal of the judge's criticisms, a spokeswoman said last night: "The primary aim is to come up with a solution to the problem rather than simply refute any allegations."
In her resignation letter, Ms Justice Laffoy said: "Since its establishment, the commission has never been properly enabled by the Government to fulfil satisfactorily the functions conferred on it by the Oireachtas."
In the letter, published yesterday in the Sunday Tribune, she cited the slowness in dealing with the issues of compensation for survivors and the payment of legal costs. She complained that extra resources sought by the commission in June 2002 had still not been provided, and that the latest review of its remit meant it would have a substantially different remit from its current one, but did not know what it would be, nor when it would emerge.
Opposition parties yesterday demanded that the Taoiseach and his Government take responsibility for the crisis in the child abuse inquiry and that control of it be removed from the Department of Education.