An all-party committee of TDs and senators is expected to be asked to consider how the State should regulate the activity of lobbyists.
A report commissioned by the Government found that few developed democracies have rules and regulations governing this increasingly controversial area.
The report, which was submitted recently to the Government, says it is important to throw light on the relationship between government and interest groups.
However "countries with specific rules and regulations governing the activities of lobbyists and interest groups are more the exception than the rule", it says.
The report, prepared by the Institute of Public Administration (IPA), was commissioned by the Minister for the Environment Mr Cullen. The Taoiseach had asked Mr Cullen to examine the issue after evidence at various tribunals led to growing concern over the role of lobbyists in political and public life.
This concern arose from the revelations of Mr Frank Dunlop's dual role as a lobbyist and distributor of money to politicians, and Mr Liam Lawlor's various dual roles as a politician and representative of various businesses.
The IPA report studied the situation in the 15 countries that were in the EU prior to May 1st, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel and the EU institutions.
It found that in developed democracies there is very little regulation of the activities of lobbyists, despite controversies over the relation between interest groups and governments.
The question of regulating lobbyists was "advancing up the political agenda" in many countries, and parliaments were coming under pressure to act.
Within the EU the German Bundestag is the only parliamentary chamber which has formal rules regarding the registration of lobbyists. All groups and organisations wishing to express, or defend, their interests before the Bundestag or the federal Government must be registered. They must also name their representatives, meaning that professional lobbyists hired by them to lobby government or parliament will be identified.
The UK on the other hand regulates the lobbied rather than the lobbyists, requiring that MPs disclose all outside sources of remuneration arising from the provision of services in their capacity as MPs. It also bars them from lobbying for reward.
In the European Parliament, those who visit frequently to lobby members can obtain a permanent pass allowing them to enter parliament buildings easily in return for signing up to a code of conduct and signing a register.
Pressure to regulate lobbyists typically arises from specific crises or scandals which throws the media spotlight on the relationship between interest groups on the one hand and politicians and bureaucrats on the other.
Formal statutory regulation is the exception, while less formal practices including codes of conduct were the norm, the report states.
"Whichever approach is adopted, throwing public light on the relationship between civil society and government (politicians and bureaucrats) is increasingly regarded as a desirable and necessary development in the interests of good governance."
A spokesman for the Minister for the Environment said yesterday that the views of all political parties on the matter would now be sought by having one of the Oireachtas committees consider the matter.
It could consider whether to prevent senior civil servants and Government officials from using their inside knowledge to secure lucrative private sector jobs - often as lobbyists themselves.
This could be done by introducing a "cooling off period" after they left public service during which they could not take up certain private sector roles.
The Department of Finance has considered the possibility of obliging senior civil servants who go into the private sector to continue signing a declaration of interests for a defined period.