An inquiry is taking place into the deaths of a family of four whose bodies were found in their house in Monagear, Co Wexford, last April.
Adrian Dunne, his wife Ciara and their two children, five-year-old Leanne and three-year-old Shania, were found by gardaí after concern had been expressed about their safety.
It appeared that Mr Dunne had killed himself after taking the lives of his wife and daughters.
Then Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, had announced the setting up of an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
It had emerged that the authorities had become aware of a risk to the family's safety before the incident.
The inquiry is taking place at an unknown location in Dublin and is not open to the public or to the media.
It is expected to take three months to complete and may make recommendations regarding childcare services not operating outside of a '9-5' basis.
Some of the focus is expected to be on whether authorities have enough legal powers to intervene under current law. The Childcare Act (1991) deals specifically with emergency situations.
It gives both gardaí and the HSE power to intervene in order to safeguard the welfare of the child in the short term.
Gardaí have significant powers under the section 12 of the Act to enter any house without the need for a warrant in order to remove a child from danger.
There are two grounds where this may happen: where there is an immediate or serious risk to the health or welfare of the child; and where there are reasonable grounds for believing it would be insufficient to wait for the HSE to apply for an emergency care order from the courts.
Section 12 is intended to be used only in extreme circumstances.
The inquiry is likely to focus on whether the information available at the time was sufficient to satisfy those exceptional circumstances.
Once the inquiry is finished, its report will be presented to the Minister for Health. It is not known if the report will be published.
