When the commission was established in 2000, it was the Government's intention that it would carry out its work free of the adversarial environment and legal formality of the courts and that it would have been able to deliver its final report within two years. As time went on it became increasingly obvious this would not happen. There were many reasons, but primarily the issue rests with the fact that, far from being a relatively informal forum, the investigation committee assumed the formality of the High Court, complete with teams of lawyers. In November 2002 the commission in a memorandum to the Department of Education and Science stated that on the basis of its caseload at that time, and even assuming some level of attrition in that caseload, it would not be in a position to deliver its final report for at least a further eight to 11 years. This timeframe was provided by the commission and was based on the resources it had at that time. A report by the commission in that timeframe would be far too late for many of those for whom it was established.