Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

-----be here later?

SLAPP suits, which is I think what this section deals with, are of course an abhorrent attempt to place fear of financial ruin particularly on ordinary people or to scare off media outlets that might have a limited budget from taking part in either public life or public discourse. They have no place in a democracy. There cannot be selective prohibition of freedom of expression simply because there is a fear of a malign actor using defamation proceedings for that purpose where defamation has not taken place but there are deep pockets or sometimes strength. It is right and entirely appropriate that we should seek to address this and prohibit that.

I do have a couple of slight concerns. I have seen definitions of SLAPPs being thrown around that are not definitions of SLAPPs. Some commentators suggest that, for example, any political representative who tries to clear his or her name through the court is engaged in a SLAPP. To suggest, for example, that a county councillor representing a south inner city area in the Minister's constituency who feels that their good name has been impinged and who goes to court is equivalent to a multibillionaire who can have any number of senior counsel bringing an organisation to court is just ludicrous. It actually undervalues just how important it is that we tackle the issue of SLAPPs. It goes back to the point I have made repeatedly. No media organisation - in fact, nobody - should tell lies, things that are not true, about others. In many respects, it is very different from everything else because the victim has to essentially prove his or her case in all these instances, and then there are others who will use the system that is there, and we know this. There have been some very high-profile cases where media outlets in this State have been afraid to publish what are facts, essentially, because they are afraid of the financial outworking of that due to powerful interventions. All these things have to be done. We have to get it right. On balance, for the most part, I think this section of the legislation does that, but I just make those points.

I see Deputy Gannon coming in now. That will allow me to finish by saying that while the Bill seeks to address the issue of defamation laws being abused to make people fearful of public participation, abuse, even in terminology or through sloganeering, will not result in balanced defamation laws. In fact, it could tip the scales too far in the other direction and perhaps make people fearful of vindicating their own name, which would be the exact opposite of what we do.

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