The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr Sammy Wilson, hit out yesterday at newspapers which showed pictures of him and a girlfriend in the nude.
He was speaking outside the High Court in Belfast after he and Ms Sharon Rivers settled a breach of copyright action.
The terms were confidential but it was believed Mr Wilson got £35,000 and Ms Rivers £30,000.
Sources said they had originally demanded £100,000 each from Dublin newspapers, Sunday World and the Star. The pictures were published in May, 1996, when Mr Wilson was the DUP's press officer.
The Sunday World used them in a seven-page spread and its sister paper reprinted them the next day.
The couple claimed the revealing pictures, taken while they were on holiday in France, were stolen from them.
Outside the court Mr Wilson said: "We are very happy that we have got a public apology for the abuse of stolen pictures and some recompense for that."
Mr Jim McDowell, northern editor of Sunday World, denied the pictures were stolen. "I would do it again," he said.