Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

I revert to the Acting Chairman's judgment on where I can fit this in. It is a case where a member of a family was murdered but within hours of his death in suspicious circumstances, the media made all sorts of allegations of gay activity and sexual connotations. One newspaper ran the story and this was followed by half a dozen others. The family took a case and lost it, unfortunately, and had to pay out €110,000 in costs for just that one case. The newspaper concerned has never seen fit to issue an apology, although the coroner's report proves this man was murdered.

I am not sure which section of the Bill would be relevant and I beg the indulgence of the Chair. Perhaps the Minister could help in this. Family members do not have any rights when mistruths are deliberately put out, with no apology given afterwards. If this family received an apology from the media concerned, it would be happy at this stage. The family went to court and paid €110,000 in costs when they lost the case. This stopped them taking any action against other media.

No apology has been issued in this case by any of the media. We must try to address that issue and I welcome the Minister's comments on it. I appreciate the Acting Chairman allowing me to mention it.

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