The last remaining 22 Provisional IRA prisoners in the Republic are to be transferred from Portlaoise high-security prison to the lower-security institution at Castlerea, Co Roscommon.
It is understood the four men sentenced earlier this year for the killing of Det Garda Jerry McCabe will be among the group being transferred within the next few days. The other 18 are men who have been transferred from prisons in England. They are expected to be released early next year under the Belfast Agreement.
The Government has decided not to apply the early release provisions to the four convicted of the manslaughter of Det Garda McCabe. At the time of their sentencing last February the Government said they would serve "significant" terms.
At the time of the Belfast Agreement negotiations, the Government negotiators rejected requests from the Sinn Fein leadership for the inclusion of the four in the early release programme.
Most of the others have been receiving generous amounts of temporary release for work experience and family-related events. The implementation of the early release scheme for IRA and other prisoners belonging to groups adhering to ceasefires means that this Christmas only a handful of "anti-agreement" prisoners will remain incarcerated.
It is expected that the Maze Prison outside Belfast will be empty this Christmas for the first time since it was opened in 1971.
There had been a Government plan to move the last of the Provisional IRA prisoners to Castlerea during the first ceasefire, but this was dropped after the IRA carried out the bombing at Canary Wharf.
Castlerea has a high-security wing, but this is largely used for sex offenders.
It is understood that the IRA group will have their own wing of two-storey buildings and will have considerable freedom within their area. The prison has a high perimeter wall but otherwise has much less security than Portlaoise, where an Army unit is on permanent duty.