Former president, Mrs Mary Robinson said she was instructing her lawyers to make sure her reputation was maintained after claims allegedly made by a senior diplomat were printed in a newspaper.
Mr Patrick Salmon was quoted as making the allegation that he organised the then president's State visit to Japan in 1995 and that she used the occasion to further her career to become UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mrs Robinson's aide Ms Brid Rosney was also quoted as stating that the claims were factually incorrect and that no lobbying took place.
Last night, when asked about the article, Mrs Robinson told The Irish Times: "I have instructed my lawyers to make sure my reputation is maintained." She said she could not comment any further.
Mrs Robinson was launching The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Volumes IV and V: Irish Women's Writing and Traditions at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre Dublin.
The anthology, which was 11 years in the making, features the work of over 750 writers.
Mrs Robinson said she was delighted and honoured to be launching the anthology. "We've been waiting for it," she said. The anthology was significantly important not only for women in Ireland but for women far beyond, she said. She quoted Virginia Woolfe who said: "For most of history Anonymous was a woman."
Mrs Robinson said these two volumes made the work of women visible.
The anthology is published by Cork University Press and it will also be launched in Paris, London and New York.