Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I raised this issue on Committee Stage because it is one about which I feel strongly. I was disappointed the Minister did not bring forward any improved wording in regard to the right of reply of relatives of deceased people. We are talking about cases such as that of the late Liam Lawlor. Following his death, inaccurate, unfair and scurrilous reports were made as to the circumstances around his death, both in the print media and, from what I remember although I stand to be corrected on this, in the broadcast media.

It is not acceptable that we are now passing legislation that does not give a right of reply to a family member or legal representative on behalf of a family when a clear mistake has been made. The Minister will not get a stronger advocate for freedom of the press than me. I have experience of this issue as well in the print media more so than in the broadcast media. This legislation should contain an element that would allow a family to correct the record, particularly in tragic circumstances such as those experienced by the Lawlor family. There are many other potential cases in respect of which families should have a legal right to set the record straight, as opposed to hoping that the broadcaster will set the record straight when facts are clarified.

The relevant section 42(2) states, "Subject to this section, any person whose honour or reputation has been impugned by an assertion of incorrect facts or information in a broadcast shall have a right of reply." My amendment No. 50 proposes to add to that subsection the wording "and should such a person be deceased, then a family member or legal representative shall have the right of reply on behalf of that deceased person".

Is the Minister effectively stating in this legislation that once a person is deceased, he or she loses his or her rights in terms of protecting his or her good name? That is the interpretation of what is provided in this section. This is a problem in regard to legislation involving the print media as well.

A reasoned amendment to the section could be inserted that would not damage freedom of expression or freedom of the media to report on whatever case it may be dealing with. We should not treat a person's relatives or good name any differently once the person is deceased from when the person was alive.

Essentially, in this amendment I am seeking to ensure that people can set the record straight if there has been false reporting around the circumstances of a death or about a person in terms of how he or she behaved when he or she was alive when the person is not there to defend himself or herself. I cannot accept the Minister's point that such a provision would in some way limit the freedom of the press. This issue is about accuracy. It is about people protecting their good names and being required to provide evidence in doing so. This section clicks in only when a broadcast has been shown to be false. Is that not the correct reading of the section? It is only relevant when it has been shown that the broadcast is inaccurate. How does that pertain to freedom of expression in the media? It does not. If there is a report that is inaccurate, impugns a person or damages his or her reputation, there should be a right of reply to correct it, whether the person is alive - as the Minister has rightly proposed in this legislation - or deceased. Otherwise we have the same situation that we have in law, in which the family of a person whose reputation has been damaged cannot sue because a dead person cannot sue. The same flaw is now in this legislation; the family does not have the right to correct the record in cases in which it has been proven to be incorrect.

I am appealing to the Minister to think about this. I am not asking for a lot. If my wording is slightly clumsy, so be it. The Minister has introduced new wording at this late stage for other sections, as I will mention later. I ask him to consider this section. I do not think the wording is particularly clumsy; it limits the provision specifically to the family or to a legal representative acting on behalf of the deceased person. It does not make it any broader than that. We must balance the responsibility for accuracy within the media with freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In the case of people who are deceased we are not getting that balance right, unless I am missing something elsewhere in the legislation that covers the point I am making.

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