Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 17 February 2022
Committee on Public Petitions
Annual Reports of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman: Press Ombudsman
Mr. Peter Feeney:
No, I cannot. We would have to change our rules because they currently specify a period of three months. If we were to recommend a change to a six-month period, or any other length of time, that decision would have to go to the editors of publications. We only receive a small number of complaints about articles that are more than three months old. That may be because people go to our website first. The evidence is that most people do go to our website before they make a complaint and, accordingly, they may already know about the three-month rule. Therefore, there may be potential complaints about things which are six months old, but which do not lead to complaints being made. The three-month period is not set in stone; it is just what the agreement has been for the last 15 years.
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