Author: Eoin

Dr Eoin O'Dell is a Fellow and Associate Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin.

Filibustering the Defamation Bill? Surely not?

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| Cinema, television and theatre, Defamation, Irish Law, Irish Society, Media and Communications, Politics

Poster for 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' via AOLFilibuster: (noun) an action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures.

The word originates in words of piracy, such as the French ‘flibustier’, the Spanish ‘filibustero’ and the Dutch ‘vrijbuiter’, all etymologically equivalent to ‘freebooter’. The 1939 movie ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington‘, directed by Frank Capra (nominated for two oscars for this movie), stars Jimmy Stewart, in his patented role of a young naif, this time oscar-nominated as a newly elected Junior Senator Jefferson Smith. The climax of the movie is a filibuster staged by Mr Smith in the Senate so that there would be enough time to expose the corruption of his mentor, Senator Joseph Harrison Paine, played by the also oscar-nominated Claude Rains.

I have already commented on the slow progress of the Defamation Bill, 2006 (Department of Justice | Oireachtas (pdf)) and the number of red herrings in the debate, and concluded that it had become increasinlgy unlikely that the Bill would be enacted before the election. Now, from yesterday’s Order of Business in the Seanad (html | pdf to follow | Irish Times report (sub req’d)), a cynical explanation: a filibuster!…

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The Defamation Bill and the art of fugue (though not fudge)

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| Defamation, Defamation Bill 2006, Freedom of Expression, Irish Law, Media and Communications

JS Bach via jsbach.orgYesterday, 21 March, was not only the Vernal or Spring Equinox, but also the anniversary of the birth, in 1685, of JS Bach (pictured left; see jsbach.org | wikipedia | baroquemusic.org) – composer of the Art of Fugue. It was also the day on which – stop press – during yesterday’s resumed Seanad debate (html | pdf to follow | Irish Times report (sub req’d)) on the Defamation Bill, 2006 (Department of Justice | Oireachtas (pdf)) Minister McDowell denied that he is a “fascist”, and insisted that he is “a liberal and a republican politician”! Whatever about the newspaper comments which provoked these declarations, or even some of the language he himself used in reponse to an effete lefty pinko commentariat? (Senator Norris’s summary of the Minister’s various pronouncements), nevertheless, at least on the issue of defamation, Minister McDowell yesterday once again proved himself on the side of the angels, declining many opportunities to fudge important issues of principle in the Bill.

During the debate, the members of the red herring school of debating were out in force again, …

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The Press Council comes closer every day

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| Defamation, Defamation Bill 2006, Freedom of Expression, Media and Communications, Press Council

Press Council and Ombudsman logoThis week saw the launch of the website for the Office the Press Ombdsman and Press Council of Ireland – already much discussed on this blog. [Update (3 January 2008): the website has been revamped and is now available here). All told, it is a rather elegant, user-friendly, and comprehensive website, which will, for example, make it easy for a member of the public to contact the Council with a complaint. This comes hot on the heels of last week’s advertisments seeking applications from members of the public to serve as members of the Press Council. …

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Article 40.6.1(i) finally gets some teeth!?

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| Freedom of Expression, Irish Law, Irish Society, Media and Communications

Luminarium, Dublin, 15 Jan 2007Various news services (BreakingNews.ie | Ireland.com | RTÉ) report that Mr Justice de Valera today struck down section 3 of the Vagrancy (Ireland) Act 1847 (as amended by the Public Assistance Act, 1939), much to the chagrin of the perpetually angry JC Skinner. That section made begging in a public place an offence, and de Valera J struck it down as a disproportionate infringement upon the right to freedom of expression in Article 40.6.1(i) of the Constitution and the unenumerated right to communicate located in Article 40.3.1

Perhaps this will be the spur to dust down the Law Reform Commission’s 1985 Report on Vagracy, as part of a thorough-going reform of an area of the law largely untouched since Victorian times? More importantly, as far as I know (and the High Court in The State (Lynch) v Cooney [1992] IR 337 notwithstanding) this is the first time that a section of an Irish Act has been struck down on freedom of expression grounds. If so, that makes today a red letter day in Irish constitutional history: the day upon which Article 40.6.1(i) finally gets some teeth. …

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What Carnegie might still teach us?

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| Carneige, Law, Legal Education, Libraries, Universities

Carnegie Foundation on Education LawyersI like the Carnegie Foundation, not least for its founder‘s support of Irish and Scottish libraries, one of which was my local library when I was growing up (and it features in the lovingly written and beautifully produced Brendan Grimes Irish Carnegie Libraries. A Catalogue and Architectural History (Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1998), though its court wing is no longer up to the mark). However, there is much more to the Carnegie Foundation than that. As the homepage of its website puts it:

Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center with a primary mission “to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher education.

One of its classic publications it its 1921 Bulletin Training for the Public Profession of the Law by Alfred Z. Reed. Now comes a wholly new report on Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law, the fruits of a two-year study of legal education in modern American and Canadian law schools …

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Consumers’ Days

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| Contract, Irish Law, Irish Society

National Consumer Agency logo, via the NCA websiteIn the week that the EU Commission adopts a Consumer Policy Strategy for 2007-2013 (largely welcomed (pdf) by the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC)), and the Consumer Protection Bill, 2007 (noted here) wends its way through Committee stage in the Dáil (just in time for enactment before the general election, one hopes), it seems that today (15 March 2007 – the Ides of March, methinks) is World Consumer Rights Day (noted here by the NZ Free Speech blog Section 14; for more background see days that matter and also here), and tomorrow (16 March 2007) is the 9th European Consumer Day.

In Ireland, the National Consumer Agency (NCA, which will incorporate the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (ODCA) later this year, is the state body established (according to its website) “to be a powerful advocate on behalf of consumers” and it will “also have a leading role in consumer information, research, education and awareness”; whilst the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) is (according to its website) “an independent, non-profit organisation working on behalf of Irish consumers”. …

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Trócaire revise ads in face of BCI ban

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| advertising, Freedom of Expression, Irish Law, Irish Society, Media and Communications, Politics

BCI logoTrócaire have just posted a statement on their website, under the headline “BCI upholds its decision on Trócaire advert”, in which they say that they have agreed to revise their controversial radio and television advertisments:

Trócaire has been informed today by the BCI that it is confirming it’s initial decision in relation to Trócaire’s Lenten advertisement on gender equality, deeming that the campaign is toward a political end.

The BCI has proposed an amendment to the script of the broadcast as follows:
“Support Trócaire to help end gender inequality.”

The original script stated:
“Support Trócaire’s Lenten Campaign to help end gender inequality.”

Despite this change Trócaire is satisfied that the three elements of our Lenten campaign namely, fundraising, awareness raising and campaigning on UN Resolution 1325 [link] (including the online petition [link]) are still fully intact. All these activities continue as before.

…

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