The Government is to make it a serious criminal offence to have or to use a false Irish passport while abroad under plans for a major reform of passport regulations which will take effect later this year.
Other offences, such as attempting to alter a passport or making a false application, will also attract much stiffer penalties under the legislation, with potential lengthy jail terms and fines running into tens of thousands of euro.
The new offences are included in a Bill which is to be presented to the Government in two weeks' time by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern.
The measures will regulate the passport system through legislation for the first time.
Officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs have denied any link between the legislation and recent controversy surrounding allegations against former journalist Frank Connolly and the cases of the "Colombia Three".
The legislation has been prompted by the introduction of biometric passports from next October, when new US rules on biometric passports come into force.
From then, new passports will have to hold biometric data for a person to enter the US on a visa waiver programme. Machine-readable passports issued before this date will also be acceptable, however.
There are no specific offences on the Irish statute books relating to the use of false passports. Instead, offences of tampering with a passport or of making a false application are covered under laws relating to theft and damage to property.
A person accused of such offences would be likely to face a prosecution in the District Court as opposed to a criminal trial in the Circuit Court.
Under current arrangements, a person cannot be tried in this State for using a false passport in another jurisdiction.
The new legislation, which will contain 12 sections, will formalise in law all rules and regulations relating to passports, including those covering replacement of lost or stolen passports.
One section will also outline up to five separate offences, including the sale of passports, forgery, use of a false passport and possession and use abroad.
The level of penalties has yet to be finalised, although similar legislation already introduced in Australia and New Zealand stipulates jail terms of up to 20 years and, in the case of Australia, fines of $110,000 (€68,600).
Sources said that the legislation had been in preparation from the beginning of last year.