THE Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, led she broad political welcome for the decision of the British Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, to allow the gravely ill IRA prisoner, Patrick Kelly, to be transferred from prison in the North to Portlaoise jail.
Viewing the decision as "an important confidence building measure by the British government in the approach to the June 10th negotiations", Mr Bruton said it was further indicator of its good intent to create the necessary climate for meaningful talks.
Kelly's transfer from Maghaberry prison is understood to be "imminent".
Home Office sources declined to say exactly when the transfer would be effected but the expectation is that it will be done as soon as the Irish authorities have completed the necessary formal requests for custody.
The sources said Mr Howard would expect Kelly's sentence to continue to be enforced in the Republic, subject to assessments of his medical condition.
Early indications are that, while the decision is strongly welcomed in republican circles, the transfer of Kelly, who is suffering from skin cancer, to the Republic will not on its own influence the IRA in restoring its ceasefire.
Praising the efforts of all involved in the Kelly ease, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said while there was a specific focus on this prisoner because of his medical condition, "sight should not be lost of the fact that there were other Irish political prisoners in Britain, some of whom have been denied compassionate parole to attend their parents' funerals".
Kelly's condition is "stable" but his illness had led to long term deterioration in his health, sources said.
Aged 48 and a native of Ballybrittas, Co Laois, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison three years ago on a charge of conspiracy to cause an explosion in Britain.
After Full Sutton prison, Yorkshire, where his health began to fail, he was moved to Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire. He spent some time on a "dirty protest" against his conditions and, as a widespread campaign got under way for his transfer, he was moved to hospital in Peterborough. In December Kelly Was transferred to Maghaberry prison in Co Antrim.
Mr Eamon O Cuiv, the Fianna Fail TD who campaigned intensively for the transfer, said that he welcomed the move but found it extremely ironic that the announcement coincided with a court date for Kelly's case which was listed for hearing today. The visit and subsequent report of a cancer specialist who visited Kelly in Belfast was "crucial to getting a decision", he said.
Mr Bruton, who had raised the matter of the prisoner's transfer on a number of occasions with the British Prime Minister, Mr Major, said the Government had pressed his case principally on humanitarian grounds in order to allow him have close contact with his family. He has a three year old daughter whom he has only seen twice.
Welcoming the decision, the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, said the Government stood ready to "receive all those republican prisoners wishing to transfer to this jurisdiction under the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons".
The leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Mary Harney, said the decision, justified on humanitarian grounds, was "long overdue".
Fine Gael TDs Mr Charlie Flanagan and Ms Mary Flaherty, who also campaigned on the prisoner's behalf, said it was a boost to Anglo Irish relations.
Members of the Parliamentary Labour Party who visited Kelly in prison on Easter Sunday said he was very ill then.