Campaigners say they hope the introduction of minimum unit pricing for alcohol will 'save lives and lead to a reduction in alcohol harm'.
It comes amid a report that the new laws are set to be fast-tracked.
According to today's Sunday Independent, minimum unit pricing (MUP) will come into effect within the next 12 months.
MUP for Ireland was introduced in the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018, which also includes measures such as new restrictions on advertising.
However, the section covering MUP - which would set the minimum price per gram of alcohol at €0.10 - has yet to be commenced.
Under the new laws, a bottle of wine costing €5.99 would rise by €1.11.
MUP was introduced in Scotland in May 2018, and officials say recent figures showing a 'substantial fall' in the amount of alcohol sold at very low prices in the country offer an 'early indication' of the impact.
CEO of Alcohol Action Ireland, Sheila Gilheany, is welcoming news of potential progress as a 'very positive thing'.
She said: "The idea behind something like minimum unit pricing is it's a lever on which we can actually try to reduce alcohol consumption.
"It's something we have been calling for, as it is an integral part of this public health approach to trying to reduce the harm from alcohol in Ireland."
Ms Gilheany added: "It's a very targeted kind of measure - it's particularly directed towards those who would be drinking at very, very high harmful levels of alcohol consumption.
"The idea really behind it is that it will save lives... we hope that it will lead to reduction in alcohol harm - both for the person who's drinking in a very high risk way, but also the people around them."
However, the drinks industry claims it's the wrong time to bring in MUP.
Patricia Callan from the Alcohol Beverage Federation argued: "Our difficulty with MUP being brought in as a model is that the Cabinet decision taken to introduce that in 2013 was actually to do so in line with Northern Ireland.
"That's not possible, because Northern Ireland doesn't have an Executive at the moment - we would be really concerned about the volume of cross border trade that would occur if MUP comes in her, but doesn't come in in the North."
