Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is okay if people do not get to come back in. Sometimes I only say things that are referenced in my reports in order to get them on the record. There were some matters in regard to PIAB. I understand that a jury would not be involved there, but it may be important to tease out a mandatory-type model and a voluntary-type model and outline how a person could indicate whether he or she wanted to enter into that model as opposed to taking legal proceedings in the courts. If it was nuanced enough, those early interventions and the mediation piece within that could be looked at, as could the test in terms of public interest as regards seriousness. There could be, not an exact, word-for-word PIAB model, but something resembling that in some sense so that it acts almost as a triage in terms of what complexity of case goes forward and what does not, and what can be dealt with on a lower level assessment basis. If people have time to come in on that, that is fine.

The second issue we sometimes talk relates to oligarchs, the elite or people with money. What I am concerned about, and I wonder if it is prevalent, is the use of SLAPPs or the threat of that from governments or politicians. Is there a prevalence of that in the context of news and media reporting when it comes to public interest?