Documentation has been received by the Minister for Justice from the Colombian authorities relating to the "Colombia Three", it was revealed last night.
The documentation, which came via that Department of Foreign Affairs, is now being examined, according to a spokeswoman for the Minister, Michael McDowell.
The three men, Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan, were convicted in Colombia of entering the country on false passports in 2001.
An acquittal on the more serious charge of training Farc guerrillas was later overturned by an appeal court, and a 17-year sentence imposed. The men jumped bail and went into hiding, emerging in public in Ireland last month.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said on Tuesday that if legal advice on the request from the Colombian government is required, the Attorney General will be consulted. Additional information and documentation may also be required from the Colombian authorities.
When the file is complete, the matter is likely to be referred to the courts.
The Government has been reluctant to comment as the matter is seen primarily as one for the courts to decide.
However, since the emergence of the men and the resulting debate on their possible extradition, legal observers have expressed doubt that the Irish courts would agree to their extradition.
There is no extradition treaty between Colombia and Ireland, and the two countries have not signed any international treaties that would cover the offences of which they have been convicted.
In addition, the procedure whereby the prosecution succeeded in having an acquittal overturned, and evidence found credible without it being heard, is unlikely to find favour in Irish courts.
Asked yesterday about the case, the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, said that it was a matter for the courts in the first instance.
The DUP has been strenuously demanding that the men are extradited and sent back to Colombia to serve their sentences.
Its South Down MP, Jeffrey Donaldson, recently visited Colombia, where he met security chiefs, vice-president Francisco Santos and victims of the Farc rebels.
The US state department has also made clear its views that the men should serve their sentences, either in Ireland or in Colombia.