Defamation – Page 11

Recognising the Press Council

Posted on 11 March, 201010 December, 2012 by Eoin

Section 44 (also here) of the Defamation Act, 2009 (also here) provides that the Minister for Justice may by recognise a body as the “Press Council” , and Schedule 2 (also here) to the Act sets out the minimum requirements such a body must meet to be so recognised. The Irish media established a Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman with effect from 1 January 2009, and the Minister announced yesterday that this would be recognised as the Press Council for the purposes of the Act (here’s the press release, with added links):

Ahern to seek Oireachtas approval for formal recognition of the Press Council

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Dermot Ahern, T.D., announced today that he is asking the Dáil and Séanad to approve an Order by him declaring the formal recognition of the Press Council of Ireland as the “Press Council”.

Minister Ahern said that the application from the Press Council of Ireland under section 44 of the Defamation Act 2009 has been examined with reference to the requirements in Schedule 2 of the Act and that he was satisfied that the application met those requirements.

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Trouble in the Blog O’Sphere

Posted on 3 February, 201022 March, 2010 by Eoin

It all began innocently enough: just before Christmas, Sunday Times journalist John Burns wrote a piece lamenting the shortcomings of blogging in Ireland. Leading bloggers naturally begged to differ. A month later, the spat was picked up by Trevor Butterworth writing on Forbes.com, who noted that “it’s hard to think of a free country more suited to blogging than Ireland”. By the same token, it’s at least as hard to think of a country more given to litigation; and the point was illustrated by a story retailed almost en passant in Butterworth’s piece:

As one journalist told me, Ireland’s media is currently abuzz over a “confidential” legal settlement against a blogger, who allegedly had to pay almost $140,000 in damages for a libelous post, seen by few, swiftly purged from the site, and readily apologized for.

This was intriguing. By the end of the week, John Burns in the Sunday Times had the full story:

A blogger has agreed a €100,000 settlement after libelling Niall Ó Donnchú, a senior civil servant, and his girlfriend Laura Barnes. It is the first time in Ireland that defamatory material on a blog has resulted in a pay-out. … In December 1, 2006, a blogger who styles himself as Ardmayle posted a comment about the couple … Following a legal complaint, he took down the blog and in February 2007 he posted an apology which had been supplied by Ó Donnchú’s and Barnes’ lawyer … However, the pair subsequently issued separate proceedings.

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The Defamation Act is a welcome but imperfect reform

Posted on 18 January, 2010 by Eoin

In today’s Irish Times (with added links):

Defamation Act a welcome but imperfect reform for libel cases

The Defamation Act [2009] which came into effect this month, is a significant improvement on the old law, but serious problems remain … [It] modernises the law. It provides statutory support for the Press Council and it makes it easier both to take and to defend libel cases. For these reasons, as the Act came into effect earlier this month, Andrew O’Rorke quite rightly afforded it a very warm welcome … However, it ducks some important reforms and bungles others, while some of its most significant provisions raise constitutional problems.

For example, it fails to account for internet service providers (ISPs) or to rebalance the burden of proof from the defendant to the plaintiff. The centrepiece defence of fair and reasonable publication is unworkably narrow. Those issues, along with the ease with which companies can take defamation actions under the Act, might even prove unconstitutional. …

The Defamation Act 2009 is a hugely significant piece of legislation, which has gone a very long way towards restoring fairness and stability to a notorious area of the law. However, in some important respects, the Act raises as many questions as it has answered and its deserved welcome must therefore be a qualified one.

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The defence of responsible journalism must await another case

Posted on 17 January, 201031 July, 2016 by Eoin

As the Supreme Court of Canada adopts a species of the responsible journalism defence to libel claims, the case that embodied the best opportunity that Irish law has had so far to do the same has come to an end. In Hunter v Duckworth, Ó Caoimh J in the High Court ([2003] IEHC 81 (31 July 2003)) seemed to approve of the defence (at least in the view of Charlton J in a later case), but the Supreme Court ducked the question and returned the case to the High Court. However, the case has now been settled. According to the Irish Times:

English barrister apologises to two Birmingham Six

An English barrister has apologised before the High Court to two members of the wrongly jailed Birmingham Six who had sued him for defamation over a pamphlet written by him which contained material meaning, the men alleged, they were “mass murderers”.

Sir Louis Blom–Cooper QC in an apology read by his counsel Douglas Clarke yesterday, said he “sincerely regrets certain unintended inferences” which have been drawn from the publication of the pamphlet in 1997.

He said “an unqualified apology for any suggestion of the guilt” of Hugh Callaghan and Gerry Hunter was “overdue”.

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SI No 511 of 2009: Rules of the Superior Courts (Defamation) 2009

Posted on 11 January, 201024 October, 2011 by Eoin

One of the reasons for delaying the coming into effect of the Defamation Act, 2009 from 23 July 2009 when it was signed by the President until 1 January 2010 was the need to amend the Rules of the Superior Court to provide for the changes to practice and procedure which it requires. Those changes are effected by SI No 511 of 2009: Rules of the Superior Courts (Defamation) 2009 (pdf). It inserts a new Order 1B in, and amend Order 22, Order 36 and Appendix B, Part II of the Rules of the Superior Court) to facilitate the operation of the Defamation Act, 2009. In particular, it makes provision for

verifying affidavits under section 8,
the procedures relating to various applications under sections 11 (multiple publication), 14 (meaning), 33 (prohibition order), and 34 (summary application), and under section 11(2)(c) of the Statute of Limitations 1957 (as amended by section 38),
applications under section 23 relating to offers of amends,
notification of evidence of apology under section 24, and
particulars of evidence in mitigation (amending Order 22 RSC).

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O’Rorke on the Defamation Act

Posted on 2 January, 20103 February, 2010 by Eoin

Writing in today’s Irish Times, Andrew O’Rorke, Chairman of Hayes Solicitors who are that paper’s legal advisors, welcomes the recent commencement of the Defamation Act, 2009 (much as the Editor did at the time of its enactment):

Defamation Act will facilitate more sensible, efficient justice

… The impetus to change the law on defamation originated in 1987. … Government has always been suspicious of media’s perception of its own importance to society. It is an uneasy relationship, which has probably deteriorated in recent times with the increasing examination and analysis of executive action and conduct. There was a marked reluctance to proceed with new legislation, as is evidenced by the almost 20-year gap in finally introducing the Bill in 2006 and the delays since then, …

Freedom of expression is a fundamental right, a cornerstone of any democratic, tolerant society, and when sought to be exercised by journalists it should be for the benefit of and on behalf of that same society and the public’s right to know. It is a precious right, but not one that can be exercised in defiance of others’ rights and certainly not if it vilifies another person or paints an untrue picture of that person, their character or actions, which is the essence of defamation.

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Defamation Act 2009 (Commencement) Order 2009 (SI No 517 of 2009)

Posted on 18 December, 2009 by Eoin

The long wait is nearly over. The Defamation Act 2009 will come into force on 1 January 2010. From the Department of Justice [pdf]:

Defamation Act 2009 (Commencement) Order 2009 (SI No 517 of 2009)

I, Dermot Ahern, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 1(2) of the Defamation Act 2009 (No 31 of 2009), hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Defamation Act 2009 (Commencement) Order 2009.

2. The 1st day of January 2010 is appointed as the day on which the Defamation Act 2009 (No 31 of 2009) comes into operation.

Given under my Official Seal,
15 December 2009.

DERMOT AHERN,
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

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O’Dowd on Defamation

Posted on 12 December, 2009 by Eoin

John O’Dowd of the School of Law, UCD, is first into print with a detailed analysis of the Defamation Act, 2009 (pdf): see “Ireland’s New Defamation Act” (2009) 1 (2) Journal of Media Law 173-190. Here’s the abstract [with added links]:

The Defamation Act 2009 [pdf] places the law of defamation in Ireland on an almost completely statutory footing. It results from almost 20 years’ analysis and debate, starting with two Law Reform Commission reports in 1991 [tort of defamation html, pdf; criminal libel html, pdf]. During those two decades, some of the Commission’s proposals were overtaken by judicial development of the common law of defamation, notably by the emergence of the Reynolds [see Reynolds v Times Newspapers [2001] 2 AC 127, [1999] UKHL 45 (28 October 1999)] defence. The Act reflects a determination to take account of such changes, particularly in respect of Reynolds. The Act is distinctive through the reference which it makes to the Press Code of Practice, the Press Ombudsman and Press Council established in 2008 [link]. Those were the response of the press to proposals made to the Government for a statutory press council with regulatory powers over periodical publications.

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