The Director of Public Prosecutions is examining the possibility of changing policy to enable him comment on individual criminal cases.
James Hamilton said last night that traditionally DPP's in Ireland and other common law jurisdictions could not comment on one case without them being obliged to comment on all cases where someone is not prosecuted.
He said this policy had begun to change in several jurisdictions over the last few years.
Those responsible for prosecutions in Australia, Canada and more recently England, Scotland and Northern Ireland now comment on and explaining their decisions.
Mr Hamilton said the practice differed from state to state, with some DPPs giving reasons for not prosecuting cases to the victims of crime or their families, and some DPPs making public their reasons.
Mr Hamilton said he had established a group of lawyers in his office, along with other stakeholders in the criminal justice system, to examine other jurisdictions to see if it would be possible to come up with a proposal that could be operated in the Republic.
He said he expected the study group to be in a position to report back to him later this year.
Mr Hamilton, who was addressing the Law Society at University College Cork, prefaced his remarks by pointing out that there were some cases where it would be impossible for his office to give an explanation as to why it did not direct a prosecution.
These cases included ones where a prosecution would have jeopardised the safety of a Garda informant or disclosed private details about a witness's health or other private matters.
