The Cabinet is today expected to sign off on the establishment of an inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes.

The Commission of Investigation is expected to examine the homes from the foundation of the State until the late 1980's.

The coalition announced the establishment of a commission of inquiry last May following revelations about the deaths of almost 800 children at the Tuam mother and baby home.

Ms Justice Yvonne Murphy is to chair the inquiry and it's taken until now to finalise the terms of reference.

More than 160 submissions were received by the Minister for Children in a consultation process.

It's expected the inquiry will focus on nine homes accounting for almost 24,000 births from the foundation of the State to 1987.

But it's likely that many more children were resident in these homes who were born elsewhere and so the Commission is likely to engage in a sampling exercise rather than on every case.

Once the Cabinet approves the terms of reference today, they'll be published tomorrow and sent to the Dáil and Seanad for debate.