The anti-corruption laws currently applying to Cabinet ministers and other senior officeholders will be extended to all TDs, senators and MEPS.
Until now only senior officeholders, including the Taoiseach, ministers, senior civil servants and members of semi-State boards, were covered by legislation specifically dealing with political corruption.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is preparing amendments to broaden the scope of the Prevention of Corruption Acts to include lower-ranking politicians. He will bring them to Cabinet in the new year.
At present TDs and senators are only subject to common-law provisions if accused of corruption. Senior sources said last night it was necessary to make changes in the Acts because these provisions were "notoriously difficult to prove".
The proposed changes to the Acts, which date back to 1899, 1906 and 1916, will also allow for prison sentences of seven years and fines of up to £50,000. The proposals will be presented to Cabinet next month, and will provide for the ratification by Ireland of several international conventions on corruption.
The Minister's intention to add TDs, senators and MEPs to the list covered by the existing law has been conveyed to the chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Service, Mr Michael Ahern, Fianna Fail TD for Cork East.
The proposals will be discussed by Mr Ahern's committee, which is already drafting proposals for the Standards in Public Office Bill, another piece of legislation dealing with political and public service propriety.
"My committee awaits the Minister's amendments, and we expect them to have relevance for our own deliberations. I do not expect that the amendments will be met with any opposition," Mr Ahern said.
The Ethics in Public Office Act, passed by the rainbow coalition, closed off several potential loopholes in the existing anti-corruption laws. But measures dealing with the misuse of office were not applied with the same stringency to TDs, senators and MEPs as to senior office-holders.
Senior sources said the planned amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Acts were "not an attempt by the Government to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude but a clear demonstration that the highest standards must be maintained by elected persons".
In a parallel development, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is completing details of a new Public Office Commission to deal with allegations of political impropriety.