Minister for Health Mary Harney said it was a great pity it took so long to produce the official report on the retention of organs by hospitals.
She also maintained that lessons needed to be learned from the experience of the Dunne inquiry into organ retention, which ran for five years and cost about €21 million.
The inquiry yesterday submitted a report to the Department of Health, which informed sources said contained extensive documentation.
It had been indicated previously that the report would be confined to an examination of postmortem practices in three paediatric hospitals in Dublin.
A spokesman for the Minister was unable to confirm this last night, however. He said the Department of Health was still examining the material submitted.
The Dunne inquiry, set up in 2000 and chaired by Anne Dunne SC, was originally mandated to examine the postmortem practices in all public hospitals in the State as well as any links with the pharmaceutical industry in relation to retention of organs.
Ms Harney yesterday indicated that she might commission a new investigation to look at issues not addressed in the Dunne report. If it was the case that there was "unfinished business" she wanted to bring this quickly and effectively to a conclusion.
Ms Harney said a similar inquiry in the North had been completed within 18 months. She would study the Dunne report over the coming days, consult the Attorney General on its findings and bring the document to Cabinet within a fortnight.
She said it was important to bring closure to the issue as far as both the families and the Department of Health was concerned.
Meanwhile, the Parents for Justice group, the organisation representing families affected by the organ retention controversy, said its members were unhappy and frustrated by the delay in the production of the report.
Chairwoman Fionnuala O'Reilly said there were suggestions that hospitals and doctors might not be named for legal reasons and that the report might not be published at all. She said that such a development would be of huge concern to the taxpayer.
