Fine Gael's deputy leader used her own experience of distorted photographs to call for the protection of photographers' work. Ms Nora Owen told the Dail that she was "subject to distortion" when, as a Government Minister, Phoenix magazine put her head on a picture of the Canadian actor Pamela Anderson.

They "put my head onto this scantily clad, curvaceous body and I appeared in the magazine in that way," she said during the debate on the Copyright and Related Rights Bill.

"Obviously, everyone knew it was not my body so it was clear I was not being defamed, but someone who did not know me might have wondered why I posed in this semi-clad manner for Phoenix. I hasten to add that I did not do it." Digitally-altered photos could be "damaging to professional photographers who produce good work and do not want to see it distorted". The Minister of State for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Tom Kitt, said there were provisions in the Bill to protect those whose photographs were distorted.