The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, will today introduce a Law Reform Commission consultation paper on public inquiries, including tribunals.This comes as concern grows about the ultimate cost of the burgeoning number of tribunals of inquiry.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has himself proposed a template for a new and, it is hoped, less expensive form of inquiry.
There were 10 public inquiries sitting last year, costing the taxpayer an estimated €60 million.
This figure is likely to be multiplied, as there is no end in sight to the Flood and Moriarty tribunals, and groups of citizens are calling for more public inquiries to examine things that have gone wrong in public life.
The Law Reform Commission is unlikely to concentrate on the cost element in its paper. However, much of the costs derive from the way in which tribunals are conducted, and this is likely to be examined.
A central issue is how to reconcile the constitutional right of a citizen to his or her good name with the need for a tribunal to examine allegations of wrongdoing, and the fact that this takes place in public.
It has been argued that, once an allegation is made in a tribunal, it comes into the public domain, causing damage to reputations, with little realistic prospect of the allegation been proved or refuted for months or even years.
So those who are called before tribunals, and who can afford it, bring expensive lawyers with them to cast doubt on the allegations or their source, or at least muddy the waters.
The issue is complicated by the fact that there are different types of inquiry.
Tribunals such as Moriarty and Flood are concerned with allegations of serious wrongdoing in public affairs, with claims of money changing hands to pervert the work of public institutions.
Others, such as the non-public Dunne inquiry into retained body parts and the recently concluded hepatitis C tribunal, concern the way in which people were treated by publicly funded institutions, such as hospitals, and are essentially driven by the demand of victims for answers.
Yet others, such as the Morris and Abbeylara inquiries into aspects of Garda conduct, were set up when other attempts to examine the same set of facts proved unsuccessful.
The Oireachtas is empowered to set up tribunals into "matters of urgent public importance".
But there is no definition of "urgent", and tribunals have been established to examine both recent scandals and suffering inflicted many decades ago, such as the abuse of children in institutions.
In its paper today, the Law Reform Commission will have to examine both the legislation enabling the Oireachtas to set up inquiries and whether this needs to be amended, and the conduct of inquiries once they are set up.
It will have to try to find a balance between the rights to their good name of individuals who are accused of wrongdoing, and the need to limit both the time and money expended in the course of tribunals.