The Taoiseach has said it is the Government's intention to proceed with plans to split the Department of Justice internally into two divisions next year.
Leo Varadkar said the department would have one secretary general and two deputy secretaries general with two divisions.
The Toland Report in 2014 found there were ineffective management structures in the Department of Justice and recommended that it be split into two distinct divisions.
One, Justice, would oversee law reform, crime and security, and international policy.
The second, Home Affairs, would manage policing, prisons, and courts.
The Taoiseach has noted that in many other countries those two portfolios would be managed by two separate departments.
However, he said the constitutional limit in Ireland on the number of cabinet ministers complicates the issue.
While the two divisions within the department are intended to operate separately, they will, for the foreseeable future, be the responsibility of one minister.
