Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for drug offences, has won the right to be interviewed by journalists.
Holland, who was named during his 1997 trial by a garda as the man who shot reporter Veronica Guerin, had challenged the refusal of the prison governor to allow him any contact with the media.
It is thought Holland wants to communicate to journalists his claims that he was the subject of a miscarriage of justice.
It has been a long-standing prison view that it would not be in the interests of security or good order to allow prisoners to conduct campaigns through the media because of the potential to cause disruption in the prison.
But in the High Court today, Mr Justice McKechnie said the Governor of Portlaoise Prison had not satisfied the court on the necessity for a blanket ban.
