Fianna Fáil backbenchers have said they now fully support the Bill to end the dual mandate after the Minister for the Environment promised an amendment to meet their concerns.
Mr Cullen told a meeting of 37 party TDs yesterday that he would change the Local Government Bill to guarantee Oireachtas members access to information on local authority affairs once they resigned from local councils after the Bill became law.
He agreed to meet the deputies yesterday after a number of complaints were made at the parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Cullen said yesterday the Bill, which will prevent Oireachtas members from also sitting on local authorities, was likely to become law by Easter. He also said he would extend the deadline for councillors to resign their local authority seats and qualify for a €12,800 payment.
Currently they must resign by June 30th, but Mr Cullen is likely to extend this to September 1st to allow them to remain on their councils until after mayors and cathaoirligh are elected this summer.
In a statement, Mr Seán Power, who chaired the meeting, said deputies were "fully supportive of the dual mandate Bill". Mr Power, who according to the party was speaking on behalf of all those who attended, said the meeting had been positive and beneficial.
"I welcome the assurances given by Minister Cullen this afternoon. His clarity has reinforced support for an important piece of legislation which will assist the Oireachtas in exercising its legislative role and in maintaining an overview of national policy."
Mr Cullen also confirmed that he would introduce regulations compelling city and county managers to give them extensive information on local authority issues.
These regulations will help sitting Oireachtas members neutralise competition from local councillors once the Bill abolishes the dual mandate, thus preventing Oireachtas members from sitting on councils. He expected to publish the regulations next week.
Currently the Local Government Bill provides only for guidelines for county and city managers on giving information to Oireachtas members once they can no longer sit on councils. Backbenchers had complained at a party meeting on Wednesday that some managers could ignore such guidelines.
Mr Cullen's commitment to issue regulations - which have legal force - was welcomed last night by the Carlow-Kilkenny deputy, Mr John McGuinness, one of those who had raised objections at Wednesday's meeting.
"The Minister dealt with this in a very satisfactory way when he met us," Mr McGuinness said. "I have no reason to doubt that he will follow through on his commitment."
Mr Cullen told reporters after the meeting that a number of deputies had raised with him the size of the payment for resigning council seats, arguing that it should be larger in some cases for those with long service. While he understood and respected their arguments, he said, he was not going to re-open that issue to make any changes.
Some had also said that they had been led to believe they would be able to choose their successors when they resigned from the councils, but that now the party was taking over that process.
"That's a matter for the party rather than for me," he said, "but I will talk to headquarters with a view to coming up with a satisfactory mechanism."
He said whatever successors were chosen "should have a reasonable chance of being elected".