The need for early scrutiny of draft European legislation will be raised with the European Parliament by the Irish Human Rights Commission and similar bodies from other EU states.
Maurice Manning, the president of the commission, along with his Danish counterpart, will represent European human rights institutions before the parliament, arguing for earlier inspection of EU legislation that has a potential bearing on human rights.
Dr Manning said that the commission had a concern, which he believed was shared by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, about the level of democratic inquiry and accountability in the drafting process of such legislation.
"The Minister sent us the Scheme of the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Bill for our comments," he told The Irish Times.
"But it's a done deal. We are getting European legislation when there is very little that can be changed."
He said that this concern was widely shared in Europe. In the UK the House of Lords select committee on the European Union made a number of comprehensive written submissions on the working drafts of the convention and of the EU/US agreements of extradition and mutual legal assistance.
"In particular, the select committee and a number of civil liberties groups which made submissions to it expressed concern in relation to the changed nature of the convention and the extension of its remit at the later stages of drafting," he said.
"We believe that this is of fundamental importance given the ever-expanding competence of the EU in areas of policy and law that have the potential to impact directly on the protection of human rights in Ireland."