The Government hopes to publish its plan to salvage the child sex abuse inquiry - possibly as early as today - despite continuing concerns that some victims' groups might not accept it.
In a detailed defence of its handling of the inquiry, the Government implicitly accepted last night that some victims' groups would be opposed to any decision not to hear details of every complaint of abuse.
But the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, said the controversial proposal to hear only sample cases was central to the Government's review.
Ministers discussed the plan at length yesterday as they struggled to regain the initiative following last week's resignation of Miss Justice Laffoy from her position as head of the inquiry.
In a lengthy document defending its actions against the judge's criticisms, the Government said victims' groups had general but not unanimous agreement in principle with the "sample case" approach.
The document was approved by the Cabinet yesterday and sent to Miss Justice Laffoy.
Letters between the Laffoy commission and the Department of Education, published last night, reveal sharp divisions and tensions between them since last December over how to proceed.