The Cabinet is expected to make a decision in principle to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into Irish law after it meets next month, according to official sources. A document due to be considered at the meeting is expected to recommend the move.
Ireland is the last of the 41 members of the Council of Europe and the 15 EU states not to have incorporated the 50-year-old convention - the international treaty which protects basic civil liberties - into domestic law.
Human rights groups would welcome the incorporation of the convention, which would allow Irish courts to enforce its provisions in defence of fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and religion.
Because the convention is not part of Irish law, people who argue that particular laws or decisions infringe such rights have to bring their cases to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This action can only proceed after cases have been pursued through the Irish courts, usually as far as the Supreme Court. Because people first have to "exhaust" their " domestic remedies", bringing a case to the European Court of Human Rights can take many years and is therefore costly.
Senator David Norris fought an 11-year legal battle when he took his test case to Strasbourg after the Supreme Court rejected his constitutional challenge against Irish laws criminalising homosexual activity.
The European court ruled in Senator Norris's favour in 1988, and homosexual acts between consenting adults were decriminalised in 1993.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is known to favour incorporating the convention through new legislation rather than through constitutional change, which would require a referendum.
The Belfast Agreement requires the Government to give further consideration to the question of incorporation of the European convention. The United Kingdom has already incorporated the convention, and it will come into force in the North on October 2nd.
Failure by the Government to come into line with its European partners would mean that people in the Republic would not have the same access to the convention as people in the North. Unlike the United Kingdom, however, which does not have a bill of rights, the Republic already guarantees certain fundamental freedoms and human rights in its Constitution.
The convention's incorporation could lead to court challenges to various Irish laws. Some believe it could lead to challenges against controversial pieces of legislation.
Among the highly sensitive matters which could be tested are the restriction on the right to silence, the introduction of seven-day detention without charge for those suspected of drug-trafficking offences, and even the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau.
A memorandum for Government which the Cabinet is to consider sets out the views of various Government Departments and the arguments for and against the convention's incorporation.
The Department of Finance is understood to be concerned that actions brought under the Act against the State would lead to increased public expenditure due to legal costs and damages.
When the decision would take effect has not been indicated.