A FINAL draft of the Freedom of Information Bill will be circulated to Government Departments for comment later this week by the Minister of State Ms Eithne Fitzgerald.
The Bill is expected to go to Cabinet for consideration and decision making later this month and the long awaited measure is likely to be debated in the Dail before Christmas.
Action by the Government in shelving a commitment to hold a referendum on cabinet confidentiality has increased pressure on the Coalition partners to provide evidence of their commitment to openness and transparency - within Government.
An early debate on the Freedom of Information Bill may represent such a response.
Already, there is a high level of cross party support for such a measure.
When the heads of the Bill were discussed by an all party Dail committee last February, both Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats were supportive of proposals to replace large sections of the Official Secrets Act with new legislation.
The Freedom of Information Bill would replace the presumption of secrecy, under the Official Secrets Act, with a presumption of openness under the new legislation.
Under the terms of the Bill, citizens would have a legal right to information held by public bodies and such organisations would be required to publish a guide to their structures, functions and the categories of information they hold.
Such rights would be in addition to those which allow a citizen to obtain information under a court order.
If a request for information was refused, there would be a right of appeal to an information commissioner. But exemptions, particularly in the areas of criminal law enforcement, defence, security, legal professional privilege and matters before Government, are provided for in the Bill.
Initially, freedom of information provisions would apply to central government. But they would later be extended by ministerial regulation to cover such bodies as local authorities, health boards and other State agencies.