TDs and Senators have agreed to hold a special hearing in the autumn on the controversial operations sometimes used on women in hospitals to deal with obstructed labour.
A group representing hundreds of woman who underwent symphysiotomies has called for a public inquiry, saying the procedure was "brutal" and often unnecessary.
Some have claimed that these operations were carried out because of Catholic ethical concern that the use of the alternative - caesarean section - led to a greater incidence of sterilisation.
The operation involved sawing through bone, permanently widening the pelvis.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said this week he did not think an inquiry was the right approach, but agreed to meet the survivors of symphysiotomies group.
The Oireachtas Health Committee decided yesterday it would hear a presentation from the group in the autumn.