The Children's Minister says he hopes to have the Commission of Investigation into mother and baby homes established in the coming weeks.

Charlie Flanagan has brought a report to Cabinet from the Cross-Departmental review.

That review is likely to heavily influence the terms of reference for the Commission of Investigation which was ordered in the wake of the news that the remains of up to 800 infants were buried at a home in Tuam, Co. Galway.

He also says more than 100 submissions have been made to his office via e-mail.

Minister Flanagan says these will all form part of formulating terms of reference for the inquiry and he hopes to get Cabinet approval for these before the summer break.

And he says the inquiry will be wide-ranging.

Earlier, the Taoiseach said this marks the start of a very long process towards exposing the truth of the mother and baby homes.

He said getting the full truth about the homes will take some time.