Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has sought a "detailed report" from the Garda on the investigation into the Grangegorman murders and charging of an innocent man, Dean Lyons, with the killings.
He has also sought the advice of the Attorney General on a request by the sister of one of the victims for a public inquiry into the case, although he has said he does not think an inquiry is warranted at this stage.
It follows an unprecedented public apology last month by the Garda to the family of Mr Lyons, who died in 2000 following a drugs overdose.
A spokesman for Mr McDowell told The Irish Times that the Minister had sought a report last week from the Garda authorities on the investigation into the killings, and that he hoped to be getting it shortly.
The request follows ongoing concerns about the manner of the original investigation, and how detailed information on the murder was included in Mr Lyons's final statement.
In March 1997 Sylvia Sheils and Mary Callinan, who were living in sheltered housing in St Brendan's Psychiatric Hospital in Grangegorman, were murdered in their beds in a frenzied attack.
In July homeless heroin addict Mr Lyons was arrested and charged with the murders following a confession, in which he gave information that only the murderer or somebody who had been at the scene could have known.
The following month another man, Mark Nash, who had been arrested in relation to the murder of his girlfriend's sister and her husband in Co Roscommon, also confessed to the murders.
Nash, who is serving two life sentences for the Roscommon murders, has never been charged with the Grangegorman killings, and is now unlikely to be.
It took six months for the charges to be dropped against Mr Lyons and he was freed from jail, where he was being held on remand.
Last week following questions by Independent TD Tony Gregory, who represents the Grangegorman area, Mr McDowell said he had also referred to the Attorney General for advice a detailed letter by solicitor Michael Finucane who is representing Stella Nolan, the sister of Ms Sheils.
The letter outlined Ms Nolan's belief that a public inquiry was warranted, and that the original Garda investigation fell short of the standards required under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Yesterday Mr Gregory said he believed an independent inquiry was warranted and that he believed there had been a "cover-up" in the original case.
He said the Minister could institute a "commission of investigation", the new form of a fast-track independent inquiry.
"I know that the Minister knows that this case deserves an inquiry of some form, but he's neither prepared to say no with finality or prepared to grant it," he said.