The Government plans to increase tax on plastic shopping bags from 15 cent to around 20 cent.
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche indicated yesterday he hoped the levy would increase by October.
"I will be increasing the levy", Mr Roche told RTÉ News last night, adding that he hoped to increase it by the autumn.
The move comes in the wake of increasing evidence to suggest that the shock factor of having to pay for plastic bags had now diminished, with increasing numbers of bags being sold.
Despite record low sales of 85 million bags following the introduction of the 15 cent levy in March 2002, some 115 million bags were sold last year, with that figure set to increase to 130 million by the end of 2006.
The re-emergence of the plastic bag is also reflected in the levies collected by the Department of the Environment, which have increased from €7 million in 2002 to €17 million last year.
A number of organisations including Friends of the Earth and Irish Business Against Litter had called for a doubling of the levy to 30 cent, but it is thought that Mr Roche is more likely to increase the tax to around 20 cent.
Friends of the Earth said increasing the levy would curb complacency and reduce the number of plastic bags sold.