Tough new privacy laws could be introduced here within the coming month.
Michael McDowell intends to bring in new laws that would afford strong privacy protection to Irish public figures even when they appear in some public places.
The Minister for Justice has drawn up privacy legislation following Cabinet resistance last May to introducing libel reform.
The libel reforms, which are expected to be introduced before Easter, will also include a powerful new press council to police the media.
"I will be bringing to government in the near future a report on privacy, a proposal for legislation, and the Defamation Bill, and that is what was contemplated originally by the Programme for Government," said Michael Mc Dowell in an interview with the Sunday Times.
The proposals on privacy were drafted by a team of senior civil servants in the Department of Justice and by officials in the attorney general’s office.
