Government Chief Whip Tom Kitt is drawing up proposals to allow members of the public to make submissions on Bills currently before the Oireachtas.
A pilot project on a specific piece of legislation, most likely the Broadcasting Bill, is expected to be in place when the Oireachtas resumes after its summer holidays.
Under the proposals, members of the public will be invited to make comments at the committee stage of the Bill.
During this stage a smaller group of TDs debate the measure with the minister or junior minister in question. It is at this stage that most amendments are made before the proposed legislation returns to the Dáil and Seanad for its final stages.
In the past, interest groups have been invited and allowed to make submissions at this stage, but the public has traditionally been confined to making submissions about Bills before they are drafted.
It is envisaged that committees will invite submissions and provide simple explanations of the proposed legislation. A number of submissions would then be selected for debate during committee stage.
Oireachtas staff are also examining ways of broadcasting proceedings of committees on the internet, and for a system through which TDs can communicate with interested members of the public.
Mr Kitt said he hoped the system would be introduced on a pilot basis for one Bill later this year, but hoped that it would become the norm for all legislation. "I'm trying to find a way to get people as involved as possible with legislation, where people can become engaged in politics," he said.
He said the "litmus test" of the pilot programme will be if the comments of the public are taken on board and the legislation is changed to take those views into account.
If implemented, the Dáil would become one of the few parliaments to have such a system in place.
The Scottish parliament has a limited public consultation process via the internet.