Ms Justice Laffoy has blamed the Government as a whole rather than the Minister for Education and his Department for a series of delays, which, she says, has frustrated the work of the child abuse commission over a long period.
In her letter to the Government this week resigning as chairwoman of the commission, the judge cites as a major hindrance to her work the protracted negotiations over how much the Catholic Church would pay into a compensation fund for abuse victims, according to informed sources.
She also cites the slow progress of the review of the commission's work first announced last December, and the further lengthy delay that would be caused by the second review announced by the Minister for Education this week, as obstacles that contributed to her resignation.
She details a range of other issues, including the fear that the latest review could mean that the commission would not be able to begin operating effectively until the middle of next year, when its new modus operandi is enshrined in legislation.
Ministers plan to withhold the judge's letter until the Cabinet first approves a detailed response to the judge's complaints of Government-inspired delays. While the Government hopes next Tuesday's Cabinet meeting will approve this response, sources said last night that this was not certain.
The fact that Ms Justice Laffoy has robustly criticised the Government as a whole for its approach to the commission has ensured the reply is being treated as a matter of the highest sensitivity within Government.
The commission has believed since shortly after its statutory establishment more than three years ago that the Department of Education has unnecessarily obstructed and delayed its work. However, the letter makes it clear that it is the Government as a whole rather than individual officials or Ministers she sees as responsible.
It is understood that when Mr Dempsey first announced a review of the commission's work last December, he said this was because it appeared that, should the commission hear every case of abuse brought to its attention, it would take many years to complete its work.
The judge was first led to believe the review would be completed last February.
However, in mid-July Mr Dempsey again met her and told her he was going to initiate a second review, as the proposals that had emerged from the first were not adequate to ensure the commission's work could be completed within a reasonable time.
While Mr Dempsey said this week that the judge had not expressed unhappiness with this proposal, it is not known how supportive of it she was.
The review was initially to be announced in mid-July, after an expected High Court judgment in a case in which the Christian Brothers are challenging aspects of how the commission proposes to work.
However, in mid-July when it became clear that the judgment in this case was to be postponed until at least October, Ms Justice Laffoy was told to expect an announcement of the review in mid-August.
This was then postponed by a fortnight, and then again by a few days until this week. It is understood Ms Justice Laffoy was kept informed of the timing throughout.
However, the commission is now understood to believe that it could be mid-summer before it can begin to work under amended instructions from the Government.