Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is to establish a working group which will draw up options available to the Government on the introduction of a form of civil partnership for gay couples.
Following a meeting with the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (Glen) yesterday, the Minister said he hoped a working group, which has yet to be officially appointed, will report back by next March.
The move follows the introduction of civil partnerships in Britain and Northern Ireland this week, which provide gay couples with rights similar to marriage.
Mr McDowell has previously signalled that proposals to be considered by the Government were likely to stop short of providing for gay marriage, but could provide for greater equality between married and cohabiting couples in areas such as tax, inheritance and social welfare.
He declined to be drawn on the likely shape of proposals yesterday, however, and said key questions on issues such as the scope of civil partnership had yet to be addressed.
"I don't want to prejudge the matter. There's not much point in having a watchdog and then doing all your own barking," Mr McDowell told reporters.
"If we are going to have a genuine options paper worked up by a group, I think it's better for me not to predicate their work by signalling what I want them to do, because otherwise I might as well write it myself."
One of the issues the group will examine is whether a civil partnership would also be open to cohabiting heterosexual couples or certain categories of people in codependent relationship.
The Minister said he was not in a position to name the membership of the new group, but added that it would be "tight" and have the expertise and capacity to generate proposals quickly.
The conclusions of an all-party Oireachtas committee which is examining family units and the Constitution, due to report next month, will feed into this decision-making process.
Kieran Rose, the co-founder of Glen, said he welcomed plans by the Minister to help address long-standing areas of concern among gay people regarding the lack of access to civil partnership.
He added that once this was introduced, he hoped civil marriage for gay people would become the next logical step for the Government to take.
"Partnership is a very urgent issue. There are very pressing needs in the gay community, for example in relation to the care of children, in relation to the area of immigration. We need rapid responses to those particular problems in our community," Mr Rose said.
"What we are arguing for is an equality of rights and responsibilities in regard to legal relationships."
Mr McDowell announced that the Government had agreed to finance a research position in Glen with a €100,000 grant.