The Defamation Bill, to reform existing legislation, is expected to be published by Christmas and to be before the Dáil in the new year, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said.
He also told the Fine Gael and Labour leaders that the press council, which will monitor media standards, would be a statutory entity.
But a call for a debate about newspaper coverage of the circumstances of the death of former TD Liam Lawlor was ruled out of order under the Dáil's standing orders.
Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan (Louth) had called for the House to be adjourned to debate "the need to ensure that certain newspapers cannot publish fiction presented as fact simply to earn more money for their fat-cat owners, as witnessed on Sunday last".
He called for the "introduction of sanctions to ensure that Tony O'Reilly or any newspaper cannot gain financially from such actions".
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said that most people's sense of dignity had been offended last weekend by the headlines carried without foundation in many newspapers on the circumstances in which a former member of this House, Mr Liam Lawlor, had died tragically.
He said the date for publication of the Bill was early 2006 and asked if that would change.
Asked by Labour leader Pat Rabbitte if the "refurbishment" of the defamation law would mean a statutory press council, Mr Ahern replied: "Yes".
