Prisoners are to have postal votes under legislation introduced by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche.
Mr Roche said the main purpose of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2006 was to provide specific arrangements for voting by prisoners.
"In Ireland there is no legal prohibition on voting by prisoners once they meet the standard qualifying criteria under electoral law which apply on a general basis."
While a person in custody may be registered as an elector under the Electoral Act 1992, "he or she is deemed to be ordinarily resident in the place where he or she would have been residing but for their detention. The law provides no specific mechanism for prisoners who are on the electoral register at such places to exercise their franchise."
Mr Roche said the Bill would bring certainty to Ireland's position in fully meeting its obligations under the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
He said this followed a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights last year in a case taken by a UK prisoner who challenged successfully a prohibition on voting.
While the legal position in the UK differed significantly from that in Ireland, it was appropriate to implement new arrangements to give practical effect to prisoner voting in Ireland.
Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd welcomed the Bill, and urged the Government to introduce other legislation dealing with the rights of prisoners.
"It is important our prison system forms part of our reform agenda.
"It is also important that our criminal justice system is framed with the hope that this measure will in some small part go towards the rehabilitation of prisoners.
"It is an important social step and democratic reform which will, my party believes, strengthen our electoral process."
