"Symposiums" on the possibility of extending the public bike schemes to Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford are to be announced by Taoiseach Enda Kenny today.
Public bike schemes, including Dublinbikes, allow bicycle users to pick up and drop off bikes at different points inside a city for a relatively low charge.
A commitment to explore the possibility of rolling this scheme out to the regional cities was made in the programme for Government.
Dublinbikes is sponsored by outdoor advertising agency JCDecaux, which received a number of advertising sites across the city in return for sponsoring the scheme.
The Dublin scheme, which has been operating since September 2009, has attracted more than 47,000 subscribers, making it one the most popular bike hire schemes in Europe.
Two reports on the possibility of extending the to regional cities scheme have already been carried out by the National Transport Authority. These have concluded an extension is technically feasible and the cities involved have the population to attract a sponsor.
Speaking in Galway last May Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said new public bike schemes would be modelled on the success of the Dublinbikes scheme.
The symposiums, which will be held in regional cities, are aimed at bringing together local authorities, cycling campaigners and potential sponsors.
The preliminary cost of building and running the bike schemes across four cities for 15 years is in the region of €30 million between current and capital costs at current market conditions.
Last year, Dublin City Council announced it envisaged a tenfold expansion of its scheme from 500 to 5,000 bikes, which will be available to use from UCD to DCU.
The five-year expansion plan will see the number of bike stations across the city increased from 41 to about 300, bringing the service into the suburbs.
By the end of five years, the council plans to have all areas covered out as far as DCU to the north of the city, UCD to the south, Inchicore to the west and Sandymount to the east.
