Ms Cl?ona Kimber:

I apologise; I was delayed until now. I thank the committee for allowing me to speak at this juncture. There does not have to be much substance to defamation proceedings but there can be a threat. The threat is that what the person is saying is not correct and is ruining the developer's reputation. The person might be putting leaflets out in the local neighbourhood about this particular development saying X, Y and Z about it and the developer takes the view that this is defamatory. The classic saying is, "Paper doesn't refuse ink". Anybody can bring proceedings against anybody and a person is obliged to defend themselves. It is not until the end of a court case that this defence becomes vindicated. In the meantime, there is a person in a house at the end result of a court case by a large developer. Many people will simply say they do not want the hassle, it is too scary or they do not have the people to go into court to defend this.