The consequences of the recent Supreme Court judgment for thousands of immigrant families with Irish citizen children will be discussed by the Cabinet today.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, will outline options facing the State in the wake of last month's ruling, which allows for the deportation of non-EU parents and their Irish citizen children.
The ruling - that non-EU immigrants do not acquire a right to reside in Ireland purely because they are parents of Irish citizens - applies directly to two immigrant families, but could affect thousands of parents in similar situations.
There are about 10,500 outstanding applications for residency by non-EU immigrant parents of children born here as far back as September 2001.
Until the judgment, it had been the practice to grant residency rights to such parents, even if they would otherwise face deportation.
A spokesman for the Minister said he would bring an aide memoire to the Cabinet today, but a Government decision on how to handle the issue would be taken at a future Cabinet meeting.
Mr McDowell has ruled out mass deportations and said each residency application would be handled on an individual basis.
He has also indicated that the length of time the parents of Irish citizen children have resided in the State would be a key factor in considering residency applications.
Human rights groups are concerned about how the State would safeguard the rights of Irish citizens deported to their parents' countries of origin.
Department of Justice officials have sought legal advice from the Attorney General's office on future options to handle the "Irish-born child" issue.
The Programme for Government makes a commitment to "keep under review the number of applications from non-nationals to remain in the State on the basis of parentage of an Irish-born child and initiate all-party discussions on the issue of such constitutional or other measures which might be required".