The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, considers a voluntary press council, backed by statutory powers to sanction newspapers and magazines that break privacy and other guidelines, as the best option to regulate the print media.
Speaking on radio yesterday, the Minister said he did not favour a State-appointed press council, and that an entirely self-regulating model, as was the case in England, would not work.
"There is a middle road between saying it's an entirely private club on the one hand, and that it's a State-appointed body on the other," he said.
"If the media interests and the public interests are capable of putting together the press council which could be recognised under statute, that press council could be given State powers."
In an interview with Pat Kenny on RTÉ Radio One yesterday morning, Mr McDowell said he envisaged a situation where the council would be recognised in new legislation to reform the defamation laws, and its decisions would be enforceable under law.
"They have to have some system of getting conformity with their rulings because otherwise the press council would be a toothless dog," he said.
He cited An Taisce as an example of a body which was not a State organisation, but had legislative recognition for its role.
He said the council would have power of sanction, in the way that organisations such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants has sanction powers.
Mr McDowell said that while he believed the Irish media generally respected the privacy of politicians and public figures, the press council should introduce regulations prohibiting certain types of photographs and articles.
Referring to recent press coverage of the health of Kerry Katona, the estranged wife of singer Brian McFadden, he questioned how newspaper editors would react if their family members were subjected to similar coverage.
"I'd love to know what they would think if someone like me stood up in the Dáil because of some row I'd had with them, and said, so and so's child is suffering from adolescent depression and is in a hospital.
"If I'd said that in the Dáil with absolute privilege, I'd say they'd go absolutely bananas and say that this is an outrageous abuse of my position, and what was I doing and why was I saying that. But is the editor of a newspaper any more or less important than Brian McFadden? Is one private and the other public?"
He believed that in Ireland "our media do serve us very, very well".
"We are, generally speaking, decent, we don't engage in paparazzi type photo hunts."
The Minister reiterated his intention to change the defamation laws, which he said were too restrictive.
"There's general consensus that an apology should be capable of being given without effectively handing your cheque book over to the other side," he said.
He also planned to change the law to allow for the "defence of reasonable care" in a case where incorrect facts were published but the newspaper or broadcaster had attempted to ensure they were correct before publishing them.