The Labour Party has called on the Minister for Justice to reconsider his plans to introduce punitive legislation to prevent gardaí leaking information to the media.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, said Mr McDowell's proposals were "savage".
He said he hoped the Minister's plans were not related to an incident last year when details of an assault on Mr McDowell's teenage son were leaked to a newspaper.
Mr McDowell has proposed legislation that would see gardaí being jailed for leaking sensitive information to the media.
Mr McDowell's wife, Prof Niamh Brennan, was quoted in reports at the weekend as saying she would be "very reluctant" to go to the gardaí if she was the victim of an attack because: "I know my name would go in the paper."
Labour yesterday said Ms Brennan's comments were "an effective vote of no confidence in the force". A Garda spokesman has said he was disappointed anybody would say they would be reluctant to contact the gardaí in relation to a crime.
Ms Brennan, the author of a recent Government-commissioned report on the health services, told the Sunday Timesthe assault on her son last year was made even worse because gardaí leaked his name to a tabloid newspaper.