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 be able to deliver its final report within a couple of years. This was promised to the survivors and repeated by the Taoiseach in his newspaper interview last weekend. However, as time went on, it became increasingly obvious to the Government that this was not going to happen and that the commitment entered into was not attainable within the expected timeframe. Following the deadline for receipt of statements in July 2002, the commission indicated that the total number of applications to the investigation committee was approximately 1,957. It became apparent that, given the rate of progress of the committee, if all of these cases were to be heard individually the commission would not be in a position to deliver its final report for between eight and 11 years. This timeframe was outlined by the commission and was based on the resources available to it. It would not be fair or reasonable that some of the people who had waited so long to have this commission established would not be dealt with for 11 years.