Mr. Bob Hughes:

On Deputy Farrell's point about mediation, we very much welcome the onus on the plaintiffs and defendants to go to mediation, and in particular in our case the use of the Press Council.

I just want to add a point on costs. I represent a lot of smaller publications - local newspapers - and the costs issue is incrementally inhibiting for a small local publisher. The impetus to settle a case, rather than to get into huge legal costs, is that much greater for smaller publishers. Surely that cannot be right; that a decision around freedom of speech is based on a sort of commercial and business decision.