The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. It was commonly known in Ireland as the Ryan Commission (previously "the Laffoy Commission"), after its chair, Mr Justice Seán Ryan. Judge Laffoy resigned on 2 September 2003, following a departmental review on costs and resources. She felt that: "...the cumulative effect of those factors effectively negated the guarantee of independence conferred on the Commission and militated against it being able to perform its statutory functions." The commission's work started in 1999 and it published its public report, commonly referred to as the Ryan report, on 20 May 2009.