The commission of investigation into allegations of child abuse in the Dublin Catholic archdiocese will not inquire into every case, but will examine a representative sample, according to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell.
The four-strong commission, to be headed by Circuit Court judge Yvonne Murphy, will have 18 months to do its work, which the Department of Justice believes will cost €5.7 million, excluding the legal costs of those brought before it.
The commission's terms of reference will cover complaints or allegations of child sexual abuse made to "the archdiocesan and other church authorities and public and State authorities" between January 1st, 1975, and May 1st, 2004.
The Minister's decision to choose May 2004 as the cut-off means that the inquiry will not investigate the handling of cases by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who succeeded Cardinal Desmond Connell.
Having first chosen a representative sample of cases, the inquiry will investigate if complaints or allegations were reported, or if any efforts were ever made "to obstruct, prevent or interfere" a proper investigation.
The sample cases will be chosen where it becomes clear to the inquiry that knowledge existed "of strong and clear suspicion of, or reasonable concern regarding, sexual abuse involving clergy operating under the aegis of the archdiocese of Dublin".
The commission will be able to probe the nature of the Catholic archdiocese's response before January 1975 if any of the children involved in these cases also made allegations of abuse before then.
The degree of contact between the Catholic Church and State and local authorities will be examined in the sample cases to judge whether the State or local authorities had grounds for "knowledge, reasonable concern or strong and clear suspicion" of abuse.
The Minister of State for Children, Brian Lenihan, will be able to direct the inquiry to investigate any other diocese if it becomes clear that any of them have failed properly to implement the 1996 rules issued by the Bishops' Advisory Committee on Child Sexual Abuse by Priests and Religious.
The commission will conclude its investigation and submit a final written report to the Minister for Justicebefore April 2007, which will be published by the Government, subject to some legal constraints.