With the euromillions running at €220m I'm curious as to whether an ordinary individual retains a right to privacy should they win it? It seems that most of the big winners in the past have been "exposed" by the papers and I'm wondering if there's any legal protection against being outed in the press should someone in Ireland end up winning it?
I realise it's not going to affect me personally but I've always said one of the first things I'd do on winning it would be to engage a solicitor from one of the big firms who I've had no interaction with or connection to and instruct them to write to the legal departments of the various Irish and UK newspapers informing them that their client wishes to remain anonymous with the subtle hint that he/she has sufficient means to ensure that should their newspaper breach that anonymity, it will not go unchallenged (or whatever couched legal terms one can use to threaten them - basically "220m is enough to tie you up in court for years and / or have PIs following your editors / journalists 24/7 until your competitor can get the exclusive on one of them leaving a known brothel or checking into a hotel with someone else's spouse etc.").
Anyway: does a person have a legal right to privacy in Ireland or would the fact they've just won millions make them a "legitimate person of interest" or whatever the legal term is to allow the press to reveal their identity? And if it's the latter, would a pre-emptive solicitors letter to the editors help or hinder maintaining their anonymity?
