The Director of Public Prosecutions is set to appear in private before the special Oireachtas committee on child protection established in the wake of the statutory rape controversy.
James Hamilton is one of a small number of officials and witnesses who will be invited to appear before the committee as its hearings get under way in the coming weeks.
The committee met yesterday for the first time since the summer, in private session, and decided against having a large number of public hearings.
Instead, it has decided to invite a small number of individuals to appear at its hearings, including Children's Ombudsman Emily Logan, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy and the DPP.
The committee, chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Peter Power, has yet to make a decision on whether to invite additional oral submissions.
It has decided that, unlike most other witnesses, the DPP will be allowed to appear in private, due to concerns that anything he says in a public forum could be prejudicial to future child abuse prosecutions taken by his office.
Discussions with Mr Hamilton are expected to focus on the current legal difficulties which his office faces in taking child abuse prosecutions, and the problems relating to statutory rape prosecutions arising out of the Supreme Court "CC" judgment last May.
Child protection groups have raised concerns that a relatively low number of Garda child abuse investigation files forwarded to the DPP result in a decision to prosecute.
Officials from the Oireachtas committee on child protection have been in discussions with the DPP's office about a potential appearance and have discussed the arrangements for the hearing.
If it goes ahead, it will be the first time the DPP has appeared before an Oireachtas committee in either public or private.
The committee has received a large number of submissions from child protection organisations and other bodies following an invitation in July when the committee was established.
However, it was decided yesterday afternoon to keep oral hearings to a minimum because of the serious time constraints facing the committee, which is to report to the Oireachtas and the Government by the end of November.
It was established last July by the Oireachtas at the request of the Government in the wake of the statutory rape controversy. It has been asked to carry out a review of criminal law relating to sexual offences against children.
The issue of the age of consent will also be examined as will the possibility of holding a referendum to enshrine explicit rights for children or to amend the Constitution to reverse the outcome of the "CC" case, which now allows for the defence of reasonable doubt over the age of a minor.
The committee includes Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan as its members. It is the first time that Government ministers have been made members of an Oireachtas committee, which is seen as an indication of the seriousness attached to the issue within the Cabinet.