Too many variables will deter candidates, writes Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent
Foremost in the minds of Ministers meeting today will be who can be persuaded to take on the task of running the Commission on Child Abuse when they manage to revamp it.
Without a chairperson it cannot function legally. Many of the powers of the commission rest with its chairperson, especially those relating to the compellability of witnesses and the discovery of documents.
The Government intends the commission to change the way it works and no one will consider the job of chairing it until it is clear what that way will be.
The outcome of the Christian Brothers' challenge to the commission will play a part in deciding the contours of a new commission. The essence of that case is what kind of delay is permissible in the examination of serious allegations against individuals.
Many of these allegations are very old, as are the complainants and accused, and some witnesses, for one side or the other are dead. Yet victims were promised that their abusers would be made to account for their crimes.
The High Court is attempting to square that circle and, whatever its decision, it is likely to go to the Supreme Court.
Another is the question of legal costs. It has been pointed that in Britain Lord Hutton can conduct an inquiry into serious allegations against the Prime Minister and his government without an army of lawyers being present. But this is not possible here. The constitutional right of a citizen to answer his or her accusers was affirmed by the courts in the Abbeylara case against an Oireachtas committee carrying out an inquiry.
So there will be lawyers involved but fee levels are in dispute. A proposal to pay lawyers fees based on those paid to lawyers appearing in criminal cases in the Circuit Court was rejected by lawyers for the victims, who refused to participate unless the fees were greatly increased. This had led to an explosion in costs.
It is highly likely that a reduced scheme of fees, with very specific controls on the time that can be spent on each case, will feature in any new commission.
But all this will take time - and time is one thing neither victims nor the accused have much of. The institutions closed in 1970, so an alleged abuser who was in his 30s, 40s or 50s before that date will be up to 80 years old now.
The same is true of possible witnesses, which could prove to be a factor in the legal status of a future investigation by the commission.
If a significant witness for an order is alive now, and in a position to appear to defend accused members, but dies in the next year or so, the order could argue the action of the Government, which led to the resignation of Ms Justice Laffoy and further delay, prejudiced its case beyond repair.
The longer the delay continues, the more difficult it will be for any meaningful investigation to take place at all.