The Government Press Secretary, Ms Mandy Johnston, faces a bill of over €100,000 after losing a libel case against The Starnewspaper and having a costs order made against her.
The jury in the High Court case delivered its 10 - 2 verdict after 80 minutes deliberation this afternoon.
Ms Johnston, took the case against the newspaper and its the political correspondent, Mr John Donlon over an allegedly "suggestive" article in 1996. She claimed its publication could lead people to assume she was a person of "low moral calibre".
The article suggested she was someone who would seek to bring down a government in the same manner as English call-girl Mandy Rice-Davis, Ms Johnston claimed.
In the 1960s, Ms Rice-Davis' affair with the then British Conservative MP John Profumo led to the collapse of the Tory Government.
A photograph alongside the article of call-girl Christine Keeler, nude and sitting astride a chair, Ms Johnston said she believed the use of the photograph was leading.
She also believed the use in the article of words like "sexual shenanigans" and the description of her as "Bertie Ahern's batgirl beavering away" were demeaning to her.
But the jury found the words used in the article of September 14th, 1996, and the accompanying photograph did not mean Ms Johnston is or was a person of low moral character.
During the two-day hearing, which began before Mr Justice Kearns last Friday, the jury heard the article was published days after Longford-born Miss Johnston, now aged 31, was appointment as Fianna Fáil press officer at the time Fine Gael's John Bruton was Taoiseach.
Ms Johnston's appointment was publicised and Mr Donlon - also from Longford - called her with a view to writing an article. Mr Donlon asked if she thought she would be able to bring down a government.
The hearing heard Ms Johnston said: "Well, I nearly brought down a Government before" and referred to Mandy Rice-Davis.
The article was later published under the heading "Mandy aims for a shock."
It stated: "The sexual shenanigans of Mandy Rice-Davis in the Profumo Affair brought the British Government to its knees in 1964. Now another Mandy hopes to topple John Bruton from his perch.
She is the lovely Mandy Johnston, Fianna Fail's second press officer drafted in to help Marty Whelan.
"The Profumo Affair was later made into a feature film Scandal, starring Bridget Fonda as Mandy and Johanna Whalley as Christine Keeler. Scandalis best remembered for the famous nude shot of Christine Keeler sitting astride a chair.
"But since Mandy refused to send us in a topless photo we were stuck with using this one."
Mr Donlon claimed the article was intended as a light conversational style piece emphasing the personalities rather than politics.
Mr Donlon is now political correspondent with the
Sunday World.