Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has started a public consultation process on the future direction of legislation on prostitution.
A discussion document on the issue was published this evening.
The law on prostitution was last fully reviewed in 1993.
It is estimated that more than 1,000 women, mainly migrants, are paid for sexual services on a daily basis in Ireland.
Provisional data from the Central Statistics Office shows 247 prostitution offences were recorded in Ireland last year.
The discussion paper does not take a position on what changes, if any, should be made to the criminal law, but highlights changes that have taken place in the organisation of prostitution in recent years.
Current legislation deals with public order problems associated with prostitution but, the paper points out, prostitution today takes place mainly in private settings and is facilitated by the use of mobile phones and the internet.
The discussion document will now be referred to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence.
Interested groups and members of the public will be invited to make submissions and the committee will report by the end of November.
