The All-Party Committee on the Constitution has begun hearing on the future of the electoral system, although indications emerging from the main political parties suggest there is little enthusiasm for change.
The committee met in private last week with the former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, and the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, to discuss the desirability of changing the system of electing TDs by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies.
In coming weeks the committee will meet Mr Alan Dukes of Fine Gael, Labour's Mr Eamon Gilmore and the Fianna Fail backbench TD, Mr Sean Fleming, who has emerged as the leading opponent within his party of any change.
Mr Fleming is due to deliver a paper on the subject at a meeting of the committee next Wednesday. He will describe the Dempsey proposals to introduce a single-seat PR system which would incorporate a list-type scheme as "flawed" and a "misdiagnosis" of the problems.
He will argue that such a system would limit the choice of candidates available to voters, while the list system would institutionalise the party system and give "inordinate power" to the leaders of political parties.
Mr Dempsey and the Progressive Democrats have been the leading advocates within the Fianna Fail-PD Coalition of changing the electoral system, a move that would require a referendum.
In its revised programme for Government, published last November, the Coalition promised to "advance the process of electoral reform" before the next general election.