Mary Lou McDonald has been nominated for an embarrassing anti-transparency award on the same shortlists as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Sinn Fein leader is expected to be announced the winner on Thursday, October 20 in the award ceremony being run by a European journalists and whistleblowers' alliance.
Ms McDonald is set to be unveiled as the winner of the CASE (Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe) SLAPP Politician of the Year award.
Read More: 'Stop telling lies about us' - Eoin O Broin hits back at claims Sinn Féin has policy of legal action
Some of the prominent and prestigious members of CASE include Greenpeace, the AEJ (Association of European Journalists) and Civil Rights Defenders.
President Putin is the frontrunner in the Outstanding Oligarch of the Year category.
SLAPPS (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are used regularly by rich and powerful persons and interests who take on journalists and others in the courts.
It has been claimed that the cases can have a "chilling effect" on media coverage of such figures.
Ms McDonald is currently suing RTE for defamation and she has successfully sued other media outlets for damages in the past too.
Sinn Féin has been at the centre of a storm over allegations that they deliberately take up defamation cases against journalists to prevent them from being critical of the party.
CASE said: “McDonald is not new to the SLAPP scene.
“However, April 2022 cemented the President of Sinn Féin's reputation as a SLAPP politician after she filed her third defamation case in the High Court.
“This time, the victim is the Irish public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)."
Sinn Féin politicians do - and have done in the past - pay regular trips to the courts to successfully defend their good name.
Sinn Féin frontbench member, Eoin O Broin TD, was asked if his party bullies the press.
Mr O’Broin said: “I’m not bullying anybody, I’m simply stating the facts.
“The party does not vote and does not take decisions on whether individual members of the party decide to defend their good name in the courts. Full stop.
“It’s not a pretence, those are the facts.”
He added that he believes defamation laws should be reformed to make them more balanced in favour of journalists and whistleblowers.
“I fundamentally accept that people have the right to defend their good name.
“I also accept that our libel laws are out of date and antiquated.
“But if people feel they are being defamed and people feel their good name is being brought into question they have a right to defend that and I don’t think any reasonable person would disagree.”
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