At least two Oireachtas committees are to examine circumstances leading to the resignation of Ms Justice Laffoy, and the wider issues surrounding the Government's handling of the child abuse issue.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is expected to look at the resignation as part of a new inquiry into the controversial €128 million deal between the State and the religious orders for the compensation of former residents of industrial schools. The judge's resignation is expected to be examined as part of this process, along with an independent financial report, which is expected to be highly critical of aspects of the Government's deal with the religious orders.
The Dáil Committee on Education is also to discuss the resignation briefly at a meeting tomorrow but will await a full response from the Government before giving the matter full consideration the following week.
Mr John Curran, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin mid-west and a member of the Dáil's Education Committee, said he believed the committee should examine the resignation. However, he added: "I don't see the committee getting into it before a full response from the Minister for Education."
The chairman of the committee, Mr Tony Killeen of Fianna Fáil, said he was "well disposed" towards an inquiry into the Laffoy affair.
However, he warned that any inquiry would have to have regard to last year's Supreme Court judgment on the Abbeylara Oireachtas inquiry limiting the ability of such investigations to make findings of fact.
Mr John Perry, PAC chairman, told The Irish Times the PAC is to hold an inquiry into the 128 million deal with religious orders to establish a compensation redress board. He said he had been informed last week by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that a special report on the deal would be available on September 30th.
The report will result in a full hearing by the PAC in October. "The committee will be examining the redress deal in detail in October, and we will be looking at all aspects surrounding the deal," he said.
This is expected to include the resignation of Ms Justice Laffoy.
In her resignation letter, she cited a two-year delay in the establishment of the Redress Board by the Government, due to protracted negotiations on the level of contribution of religious orders to the compensation scheme.
The CAG's report will cause further embarrassment to the Government over its handling of the child abuse issue. The report is expected to be highly critical of aspects of the Government's agreement with religious orders in which it agreed to indemnify them against all current and future compensation cases from former residents of children's homes in return for a 128 million contribution.
The CAG report examined the deal in which two-thirds of the contribution (80 million) is in the form of land transfers to State and voluntary organisations.