A newly-appointed commission has been asked to make proposals on how to modernise the State's liquor licensing laws.
The body will look at the possibility of allowing additional licences to be issued and examine demand in areas which do not have enough pubs, as well as tourist spots and areas with increasing populations.
Its overall brief is to make recommendations for a liquor licensing system that will meet the needs of consumers in a competitive market, "while taking due account of the social, health and economic interests of a modern society".
The establishment of the commission follows the removal last summer of restrictions to the granting of bar licences under the Intoxicating Liquor Act.
Before then, people had to buy and "extinguish" two rural licences or one town/city licence to get a licence for a new pub. Now, anyone who wants to open a pub has to purchase only one licence in either the town or the rural area.
However, that law change fell far short of the recommendations in Competition Authority report on pub licensing, which called for the pub market to be almost completely deregulated.
The 20-member Government-appointed commission is the body which will continue to reform the law in the area.
It includes representatives of vintners, supermarkets, restaurants, nightclubs, Government departments, trade unions, the Garda, the National Youth Council and the Director of Consumer Affairs.
The commission will be chaired by Mr Gordon Holmes, a solicitor from Limerick.
The commission will submit a report within three months of its first meeting, and a final report within two years.