Legislation covering an investigation of allegations into clerical sex abuse are to be presented to the Cabinet by the Minister for Justice within weeks.
Mr McDowell said there would be a new statutory mechanism for investigations into matters of significance and urgent public important. "While it will have general application, I believe it will provide a mechanism for investigating the allegations of clerical sex abuse."
The Minister was replying to the Labour spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello, who had asked when would details be announced on the form of inquiry into allegations of serious sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese.
Mr McDowell said he had consulted widely on the matter. "The proposed legislation will be informed, in the first instance, by public concern over the handling by the Dublin Archdiocese of allegations of clerical abuse, and by the meetings and useful discussions I had with victims' organisations, representatives of the Hierarchy, the Conference of Religious in Ireland and other affected parties.
"I believe that the new procedure could provide a means of examining the systems, practices and structures in place within the Catholic Church for the handling of allegations and complaints as well as their response to them.
"In order to do this, it may be sufficient for an investigation to focus on a particular area or region, rather than an investigation covering the whole State.
"However, I should stress that no decision has yet been made on these issues, and I would like to make it clear that the new procedure, if applied to cases of clerical sex abuse, will not replace or interfere with the ordinary processes of the criminal law for the investigation and prosecution of offences."
Mr McDowell said a special investigation team, consisting of a chief superintendent and additional gardaí, had been assigned to conduct an analytical overview of sexual abuse allegations. This involved reviewing particular cases to see if further lines of inquiry might be available.
Welcoming the Minister's proposals, Mr Costello said that getting information out of the Catholic Church was like pulling teeth.
"This week alone, we had the disturbing information that 15 years ago the bishops took out insurance with Church and General relating to child sex abuse and that they have acted in public as though they knew nothing about what was going on at that point in time." There was now an urgency about dealing with the matter, he added.
Mr McDowell said he had previously indicated to the House that he was going to take his time to bring forward proposals to deal with non-tribunal forms of inquiry. "When you are considering general matters of this kind, it does take a little bit longer. The heads of the Bill have been prepared, to a high quality, in my Department."
The Minister has no plans to increase sentences for child sex crimes. He said that although Irish legislation already provided severe penalties for a wide range of sexual offences against children, they were increased from time to time. More recently, in the Sex Offenders Act 2001, the maximum prison sentence for sexual assault on a child was raised from five to 14 years.
"While the penalties generally for sexual offences, including sexual offences against children, are kept under review, I have no plans to increase them." He was replying to the Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr John Deasy, who said there was surprise at recent cases, particularly those involving child pornography.
