Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I agree with Deputy Ó Caoláin that we should have an early debate on the report that has been produced by the sub-committee of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights on the murder of Seamus Ludlow so that we can get support for all the recommendations.

Four years ago a commitment was made in An Agreed Programme for Government to produce a defamation Bill for the media. This was promised each year since then and has been promised again in this session. I understand the Bill is gathering dust in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Many Bills and amendments are gathering dust in the Department. The reason it has not been published is that the Cabinet wants parallel privacy legislation to be published as well. When will the defamation Bill be published and will it be accompanied by a privacy Bill?

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