The Department of Transport has confirmed it is to publish a revised Rules of the Road within the next four weeks.
The confirmation came after criticism from the Labour Party that the current booklet, which is used by learner drivers, is 10 years out of date and does not include vital information on road safety such as metric speed limits that came into force a year ago.
"Since the book was last updated 10 years ago, there have been a number of major changes on our roads such as the metric speed limits changeover, quality bus corridors and a decade of changes to road traffic legislation," said Roisin Shortall, Labour spokeswoman on Transport.
"This means that the learner driver is at a major disadvantage, and road users in general are at significant risk because so much information in the official booklet is wrong."
The current text of the Rules of the Road dates from 1995, which means learner drivers must use a table to convert the imperial speed limits that appear in the current booklet into metric measurements.
They are also required to learn the new speed limits that came into force when Ireland's speed limits went metric in January 2005, even though they do not actually appear in the official booklet.
The need for a new booklet has been highlighted for years by the opposition parties. Back in March 2003, Fine Gael's Denis Naughten asked the then Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan, when he intended to publish a new guide.
His answer promised immediate action: "I am conscious of the fact that the booklet needs to be revised to reflect changes made in road traffic laws over the past seven years. A limited review was instigated in 1999. However, as this was not completed in advance of the passage of the Road Traffic Act 2002, a more comprehensive review is now required."
Despite the ministerial promises, it has taken almost another three years for the new Rules of the Road to come to fruition.
"This ludicrous situation has been allowed to remain despite my ongoing efforts to get successive ministers to take action," said Shortall.
"This is an issue which I have raised a number of times in the Dáil over the past three years with no satisfactory response. The dates for the release of the publication have been moved back again and again.
"The delay is an insult to learner drivers and is indicative of the government's lack of interest in road safety."
In response, a spokesperson at the Department of Transport said: "There have been a lot of changes to the rules and this has necessitated an updated Rules of the Road.
"We are now very close to this being published and this new booklet will reflect things like the metric changeover."
Relevant bodies, such as the National Roads Authority and the Department of the Environment, had input into the new edition, which will be published as a booklet as well as appearing on the Department's website.
As with many Government publications, the new Rules of the Road will be open to public scrutiny and comment before a final version is published.
This public consultation period is expected to last at least a month.
If any changes are felt appropriate, they will be incorporated into the final Rules of the Road that will be published later in the year.