Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has authorised the coroner in Co Wicklow to begin an inquest into the suspected death of 78-year-old Maura Reynolds, who disappeared from a Bray nursing home last Christmas.
The Irish Timeshas learned that Mr McDowell wrote to the coroner in east Wicklow last week to give the go-ahead for an investigation into the circumstances of her suspected death.
Both Ms Reynolds' family and the local coroner had been seeking an inquest.
Inquests cannot be held if a body is irrecoverable unless there is express authorisation from the Minister for Justice.
Mrs Reynolds's son George yesterday welcomed news of the inquest. "Anything which moves things forward is positive. For us, it's another stage in the process," he said. Mr Reynolds added that he hoped the investigation could throw further light on the circumstances of her disappearance. No date has yet been scheduled for the inquest.
Ms Reynolds (78), who had Alzheimer's disease and cancer, left the Tara Nursing Home in Bray, Co Wicklow, on the night of Christmas Day but her body has never been found.
She had spent Christmas Day with her family and was returned to the nursing home at around 8.30pm by her son.
Staff at the home had said they saw her at around 12.30am. This was later found to be inaccurate after gardaí saw a woman matching the description of Mrs Reynolds on closed circuit TV footage from a local amusement arcade and the Garda station at around 9.30pm on Christmas evening.
At 6.30am on St Stephen's Day, Bray Garda station received a call from the nursing home to report Mrs Reynolds' disappearance and an intensive search began.
Informal searches continued until January 19th and were then called off. The authorities on the coasts of Wales, Scotland and France were notified of the disappearance in the event of a body being discovered.
Last week it emerged that Health Service Executive (HSE) inspectors found a series of failures in the nursing home from which Mrs Reynolds disappeared. The reports found there was only one nurse and two care staff caring for 47 patients on the night she left the home. The nurse was also working with the GP who was visiting an ill resident at the time.
However, the home's owners, Paul and Anne Costello, have rejected many of the findings and described them as "unfair and unwarranted". Mr Costello, who is chairman of the Irish Nursing Homes Organisation, said the home's staffing ratio was above the national average and said Mrs Reynolds' care plan was carefully developed to meet her needs.
The Reynolds family has called for better enforcement of regulations for nursing homes and criticised delays at HSE level in responding to complaints about the nursing home.
Mrs Reynolds' daughter-in-law, Priscilla, described the HSE's response to their plight as "appalling". She said it took authorities four months to inspect the home after she had complained in early January.