The Minister for Justice is expected to bring proposals for alternatives to tribunals to Cabinet next week.
Mr McDowell told the Dáil yesterday he intended to establish a non-tribunal-type inquiry with statutory powers into allegations of child sex abuse by clerics.
The model proposed by Mr McDowell would have a wider application in future. It would involve a preliminary, investigative phase to inquiries, which could either precede a full tribunal or be an alternative to one.
Mr McDowell told the Dáil the inquiry would focus on the "systemic" aspect of child sex abuse and how it was dealt with. It would not be an attempt to "catalogue comprehensively" and investigate every single case of alleged child sex abuse.
He did not want to go down the road of a "Laffoy mark II inquiry" in which every single case had to be investigated. That process could take years and he said it was an issue on which many people on all sides wanted "closure".
Asked about the scope of the inquiry, Mr McDowell said it would be "premature" to attempt to describe in detail the approach he favoured, but he gave an assurance that it would have statutory powers to compel co-operation by all those subjected to the inquiry.
Speaking on the Marian Finucane Show on RTÉ earlier, Mr McDowell said he would forward proposals for forms of inquiries other than tribunals in the near future. "Tribunals are very adversarial. There are an awful lot of lawyers involved. There might be an investigative phase which would not be lawyer-driven and which would ascertain the basic facts. That's one of the things we're going to do.
"This would allow a non-tribunal investigation to take place either as a prequel to a tribunal or as an alternative to a tribunal."
Last week Mr McDowell met representatives of the Irish Bishops Conference to discuss the type of inquiry that might take place in clerical child sex abuse.
Full statutory public inquiries have the powers of the High Court, including requiring witnesses to give evidence and in discovering documents. Witnesses whose reputations may be prejudiced have the right to legal representation, which makes such tribunals expensive and long.
This form of tribunal could be avoided if the parties gave an undertaking, enforceable by the courts if necessary, to co-operate.
Last week Mr McDowell met Mr Colm O'Gorman, of the One in Four victims' organisation, and Mr Andrew Madden, the first victim of clerical sex abuse to go public.
They favoured the setting up of a commissionership, with statutory powers, similar to an inspector under the Companies Acts.
Such a proposal is compatible with Mr McDowell's views of a preliminary investigative procedure.