Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has said that there is increasing pressure on politicians to have their photographs taken, much of it due to the use of camera phones.
Ms Hanafin was commenting following the recent controversy over a photograph featuring Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and hotel developer Louis Moriarty, who is at the centre of a series of investigations into illegal dumping.
Asked if the Taoiseach needed to be more careful about the people with whom he was photographed, Ms Hanafin said it was impossible for politicians to be more careful as photograph requests are often of a spontaneous nature.
"You can't be [more careful]. The Taoiseach and politicians are asked all the time to stand into photographs. I am in loads of wedding photographs of people where the bride is a teacher . . . but you have no idea who the rest of the family are, who the groom is or who anybody is. You're hardly going to turn around and say to someone, 'now, who are you and what do you do?'."
She cited this as a particular difficulty for the Taoiseach.