The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying held its first meeting, in private session, tonight.
TDs and Senators will decide next week whether public hearings will begin in May or September.
The Committee must issue a final report within nine months of the first public session.
It is expected that next week's meeting, also on Tuesday evening, will decide on whether to seek a change in its terms of reference.
Independent Senator Rónán Mullen is understood to have made a presentation tonight, suggesting the terms of reference explicitly state that it is open to the Committee to recommend no change to the existing law.
The Committee will also consider whether its title should be changed to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Suicide.
The Committee will explore how assisted dying might operate in Ireland and examine what safeguards would need to be put in place.
Politicians will look too at the constitutional, legal, and ethical issues involved and will seek to identify any possible unintended consequences.
The terms of reference state that the committee will consider all "relevant considerations arising from the provision of a statutory right to provide assistance to a person to end their life and the statutory right to receive such assistance".
At tonight's meeting, the Committee agreed that a rota would be created to ensure all speakers could participate, and know when they can get an opportunity to speak - rather than it operating on a first-come, first-served basis.
Government TDs participating in the Committee include: Patrick Costello of the Green Party; Alan Farrell and Emer Higgins of Fine Gael; and John Lahart and Robert Troy of Fianna Fáil.
Opposition TDs include: Sinn Féin's Sorca Clarke and Pa Daly; Gino Kenny of People Before Profit; along with the Committee Chair - Independent TD for Kerry Michael Healy-Rae.
The five senators participating are: Independents Lynn Ruane and Rónán Mullen; Labour's Annie Hoey; Fianna Fáil's Fiona O'Loughlin; and Fine Gael's Mary Seery Kearney.
It is understood that the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Adviser will also brief Committee members next Tuesday evening on the law as it currently stands.
