The Commission of Investigation into Clerical Sexual Abuse in the Dublin archdiocese is expected to seek an extension to a remit requiring it to produce a final report by September of this year.
The commission was established in March 2006 to investigate the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in the archdiocese from January 1975 to April 2004. It is chaired by Circuit Court judge Yvonne Murphy, assisted by solicitors Ita Mangan and Hugh O'Neill.
The commission began hearing evidence from witnesses in private last month and it is understood the former archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, has been before it.
Other witnesses were expected to include the current Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and three former auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese, Dr Donal Murray, Bishop of Limerick, Dr Jim Moriarty, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, and retired bishop Dermot O'Mahony.
The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, and the Bishop of Kilmore, Dr John McAreavey, were also expected to give evidence.
Both sat on a 1992 tribunal in Dublin, set up by Cardinal Connell, to deal with the case of (now laicised) Fr Tony Walsh who has since served a prison term for child sex abuse.
Other likely witnesses included Mgr Alex Stenson and Mgr John Dolan, both former chancellors of the archdiocese.
Marie Collins, who was abused while a child by a hospital chaplain, gave evidence to the commission earlier this month.
They "made it very easy", she said yesterday of the commissioners, but felt she was not as coherent as she would have wished, as she became upset.
In a report this month, updating statistics on allegations of clerical child sex abuse in the archdiocese since 1940, Archbishop Martin disclosed that allegations had been made against 74 priests over the 67-year period, while suspicions had been raised concerning 10 further priests.
Allegations had been made against 48 religious priests (members of religious congregations) or priests from other dioceses who held appointments in Dublin, while allegations were also made against 13 religious priests, or priests from other dioceses, who did supply work in Dublin.
Since 1940 more than 1,350 diocesan priests and about 1,450 priests from religious congregations have served in Dublin. About 380 people have been identified as probable victims to date.
Eight priests who served in the archdiocese have been convicted in the courts, while three more are before the courts.
To date, 112 civil actions have been brought against 32 priests who served in Dublin, with 72 cases settled and 40 ongoing.
Settlements have cost the archdiocese €7.8 million (including €2.2 million in legal costs for both sides) so far, while, since 2003, it has spent about €3 million on child protection services.
