Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This week we have seen something completely unprecedented in Irish politics whereby Reporters Without Borders and our own National Union of Journalists, NUJ, felt obliged to write to the leader of a political party, Sinn Féin, expressing their alarm about a series of legal actions taken by Sinn Féin members against journalists. The letter states: "... the number of legal actions that have been filed by Sinn Féin members points to a coordinated campaign against the media in Ireland". It goes on to say that these bear "all the hallmarks of SLAPPs ... a form of legal harassment used by powerful people to intimidate and silence public watchdogs, including journalists". The letter finishes by urging Sinn Féin to be "mindful of the chilling effect" that these legal actions can have on our media and democracy. All of that is the context of six sitting Sinn Féin TDs who are currently suing, or have sued, our national media. In the context of these serious concerns expressed by journalists, can the Taoiseach update us on when we are likely to see the reforms of our defamation law that are absolutely necessary to prevent more attempts at silencing our media?

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