Those affected by a report linked to the controversial Leas Cross nursing home have until early next month to respond, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil.
Mr Ahern, defending the Government's role in the controversy, also said the report was only completed earlier this month.
Rejecting claims by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny that the Government had failed to act, Mr Ahern said the report, begun in August 2003 was "not to my knowledge or that of anyone else, brought to the Government's attention . . . I am not playing the blame game but the report was not brought to our attention".
The document dealt with the circumstances of the death of Peter McKenna, a resident of the north Dublin home and also discussed some issues regarding the former North Eastern Health Board.
Parties to the document, including the family, the doctors and the members of the board have until July 6th to respond and "we will publish this report after it has gone through the necessary due process", Mr Ahern said.
Mr Kenny claimed that the Government had failed to act on the controversy until after the broadcast of the RTÉ Prime Time documentary detailing the bad conditions and ill-treatment of some residents.
The Taoiseach confirmed in the Dáil on Tuesday that the health authorities were first alerted to the situation in Leas Cross nursing home late last year.
Mr Kenny asked "why was Leas Cross management given advance warnings of inspections even though the authorities had such a critical report in their possession?". He claimed "the Government failed to act and has severely dented the confidence of elderly people and the public in this matter".
Mr Ahern said the Government "did not know about any report and could not have known about it as there was none until after the televisions programme was broadcast. Those are the facts".
Acknowledging the upset of Mr McKenna's family, who had spoken movingly about his final days, the Taoiseach also said the "delay in finalising the report about his death and the delay in acting on it is not satisfactory".
People think that every report by a health board or the Health Service Executive about a case is brought to Government, but it is not, he said.
The health board responsible for Leas Cross had started an examination in 2003. "Somewhere along the way it moved from being an examination of the Peter McKenna case to an examination of the inspectorate of the health board," the Taoiseach said.
