A report to Minister for Justice Michael McDowell on privacy has been delayed by several months.
The report from a group chaired by senior counsel Brian Murray was expected to have been ready before Christmas, though it may not now be ready until March.
The group is to make recommendations to the Minister on "the appropriate legislative basis for the protection of privacy which would be consistent with freedom of expression".
The majority opinion at the Cabinet table against offering the media libel reform has hardened substantially in the wake of the coverage by a number of newspapers, especially the Sunday Independent and the Sunday Tribune, of the death in a Moscow car crash of ex-Fianna Fáil TD, Liam Lawlor.
"The group is expected to make a report in the coming months. The Government will then be in a position to consider the various options on the subject," said a Department of Justice spokeswoman.
"The Government's decision on any action to be taken will be announced in due course."
A Defamation Bill, which was substantially written by the Minister himself, is currently with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for drafting, and should be ready for publication early this year.
The legislation, the Minister has said, will offer "the comprehensive reform of the law on defamation in Ireland" which is currently covered by a law from 1861. It will also allow the Houses of the Oireachtas freedom to grant statutory recognition to an independently appointed press council.
Enjoying the force of law, the press council would "be broadly representative of civic society, with minority representation from publishers and journalists", a Department of Justice spokeswoman told The Irish Times.
Though independently appointed, the press council would have to conform to standards laid down in the legislation, such as dealing with standards of fairness.
A statutorily recognised press council would be much more powerful than one set up by the industry or others, since it would enjoy qualified privilege for its reports and decisions, or those of a subsidiary body, such as a press ombudsman.
The media industry has yet to agree its final attitude to the Minister's plans, while some in the business are unwilling to accept a press council unless the libel laws are loosened.
In 2003 a defamation expert group, appointed by the Minister, recommended that journalists should be able to employ a new defence of reasonable publication in cases where information, though defamatory, was clearly published in the public interest.
In such cases journalists would have to show that publication was reasonable, that it dealt with the public duties of an individual, and that a reasonable attempt had been made to get a response to the allegations from the person in question before publication.
Though the group recommended that juries should still be the ones to assess damages, it proposed that judges should be required to give them directions before they made their final decisions.
Media organisations should also be able to publish apologies, and make lodgements in court without admitting liability, according to the expert group, which was chaired by senior counsel Hugh Mohan.
