Prior to the signing of the indemnity deal with religious congregations on June 5th, 2002, officials from the Attorney General's (AG) office had at least four meetings with lawyers for the congregations, three at those lawyers' offices.
There was at least one meeting with the Chief State Solicitor's office, according to freedom-of-information documents seen by The Irish Times.
Following an FOI request, the Department of Education released one letter from the considerable correspondence between it and the AG's office following the January 31st, 2002, agreement in principle on the deal.
The AG's office released none. It said it only released documents "relating to the general administration of the office".
In a January 31st, 2002, letter to Mr Liam O'Daly, deputy director at the AG's office, Mr Tom Boland at Education said it had been agreed in principle that an indemnity would "cover all qualifying claims, by which we understand all claims which are dealt with through the Redress Board or which could be so dealt with within the terms of the Residential Institutions Redress Bill, 2001."
In an April 3rd internal departmental memo, Mr Boland said the congregations were seeking a "totally open-ended" indemnity, which would operate "so long as any person sues for damages arising out of abuse".
If granted, it had "potentially serious but completely unquantifiable implications for the State."
On April 12th, 2002, the Chief State Solicitor, Mr David O'Hagan, and the Assistant Chief State Solicitor, Ms Eleanor McPhillips, met four lawyers from Arthur Cox solicitors - for the congregations - and three officials from Education.
On April 19th, 2002, Mr Liam O'Daly, deputy Attorney General, attended a meeting with the same four lawyers from Arthur Cox and the same three Education officials. Another meeting of the same personnel - minus one lawyer from Arthur Cox - took place on April 23rd at Arthur Cox offices in Dublin.
A second meeting in those offices took place on May 1st and a third on May 8th. At both meetings four lawyers for the congregations were present again. Mr O'Daly was joined by Ms Jennifer Payne from the AG's office on May 8th, 2002.
Both also attended a meeting with officials from the Departments of Finance and Education on May 16th, in the Department of Finance. It was recommended that a further meeting with Arthur Cox should take place.
Further relevant documentation was refused. However, the Comptroller and Auditor General's report last Tuesday indicated that the AG's office sought advice from senior counsel in "late May 2002" on the indemnity deal.
It added that in early June 2002 the AG noted that the draft indemnity "reflected the policy position adopted by the Minister" (Dr Woods).
The contribution by the religious "might be regarded as insufficient", he said.
