The international NGO has ranked Ireland at 13 out of 180 countries in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index, up from 15 in 2019.

The “highly concentrated nature of media ownership” was identified as the “largest threat” to press freedom in Ireland in 2020.

However, the NGO warned that “frequent defamation suits and the extraordinarily high damages awarded by Irish courts also posed a significant threat to press freedom”.

It added: “The possibility of exorbitant damages, combined with the high costs of defending defamation suits, has resulted in a climate of self-censorship, in which prominent individuals known to be litigious become largely untouchable by the Irish media.”

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan pledged in November to bring proposals for defamation law reform to the Dáil before the summer recess.

Reporters Without Borders also noted the recent abolition of blasphemy as a criminal offence, a “welcome move for press freedom”.