The Irish government's proposed law on the protection of privacy is still moving slowly through the Senate, which is the upper house of parliament. Since the lower house has not seen it yet, it is difficult to believe that it will become law before next summer's general election. This will accord with the Justice Minister Michael McDowell's real wishes: the Bill is beloved of the governing coalition's majority party, but is personally repugnant to the libertarian Minister, leader of the Progressive Democrat party, who is also close to media interests in Ireland.

I have made available a link to the text of the Bill here