The newspaper and magazine industry has published proposals for an independent press council and complaints procedure, which the Government is expected to recognise in new legislation reforming the defamation laws.
The Seanad will begin debating the Defamation Bill this morning.
The proposals for the new press watchdog, which follow two years of discussions with the Government, were developed by the Press Industry Steering Committee, which is made up of representatives from newspaper editors and owners, periodical publications and journalists.
They provide for the establishment of a 13-person press council and the office of a press ombudsman, which would deal with complaints from members of the public about articles published by newspapers and magazines.
A majority of the council, seven, will be independent of the media and are to be chosen through a special independent appointments process.
A new code of conduct stipulates 10 broad principles covering areas such as accuracy, fairness, privacy, children and incitement to hatred.
The new press council and code of conduct has been agreed by all national newspapers, British newspapers with Irish editions, local newspapers, a majority of national magazine publications, and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Decisions by the ombudsman and press council will attract qualified privilege under the proposed new defamation laws, which will also introduce the defence of "reasonable publication", where a newspaper will be able to argue in certain cases that an article related to an issue of public importance, even though it may contain inaccuracies.
However a court will be able to reject this defence if it finds that a newspaper or magazine failed to adhere to the new complaints procedure.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell yesterday welcomed the publication of the proposals for a press council in advance of the Seanad debate.
"It underlines the very nature of what is proposed in this legislation," he said, describing the plans as "a fair middle way" between proposals for a statutory press council established by the Government and a press council comprising press interests only.
"The Government is not establishing a press council, the Government is proposing legislation to the houses of the Oireachtas under which a press council would be recognised for certain purposes."
NUJ secretary Séamus Dooley, a member of the steering committee,said yesterday's announcement was "about enabling ordinary citizens to have a fast, efficient way to secure the right of redress without enriching solicitors".
The editor of The Irish Times, Geraldine Kennedy, said the code of conduct was deliberately designed as "a set of broad principles" and that it was envisaged these would be developed through case law based on decisions by the proposed press council and press ombudsman.
Plans for a press council had been stalled after the Government published a proposed privacy law last July. Last week Mr McDowell decided to proceed separately with the defamation reform.
He denied yesterday that the decision to move ahead with the Defamation Bill meant that the Privacy Bill had been dropped.
"There has been a good deal of debate in public on the provisions of the [ Privacy] Bill, and I have undertaken in public to consider everything that has been said about it," he said.