The Government has given approval for the drafting of legislation to reform the laws on fraud and white-collar crime following a six-year wait.
The Law Reform Commission recommended the modernisation of the law in relation to white-collar crime in 1992.
The proposed Criminal Justice (Fraud Offences) Bill will also give the i Garda new powers to obtain search warrants for documentary evidences of offences of "fraud and dishonesty".
The Bill will define a new offence of theft to replace the existing common-law crime of larceny, a number of statutory offences of larceny as well as embezzlement, fraudulent conversion and obtaining by false pretences.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, yesterday claimed the changes would be radical.
The measures will also involve creating new offences to deal with "dishonest behaviour" which are not covered by existing legislation.
"It will consolidate and update existing offences as well as developing new offences to deal with the present-day realities on fraud, such as white-collar crime, and computer-related crime," the Minister said.
The existing law on forgery, which stems from 1913, will also be changed, and new offences of counterfeiting will be specified to replace the existing law of 1861.
The new legislation will also contain provisions to enable Ireland to adopt the EU Convention on the Protection of the European Communities' Financial Interests as well as three Protocols to that convention.