Children's Minister James Reilly has promised progress on an inquiry into mother and baby homes within weeks.
It is planned to hold an inquiry into the homes spanning about 80 years.
Terms of reference were promised by the end of July, but were delayed due to the wide-ranging nature of such an inquiry.
Minister Reilly says the Cabinet will finalise those details very soon.
"I think everybody is very concerned that the terms of reference be right, and be fit for purpose, and it is our intention that we would have those very soon," he said.
"My department are actively working on them. So we're talking about the next number of weeks, not months, before those terms of reference are made available."