The Government had accepted for drafting a Bill in December 2001. However, when I became Minister, I felt that, in view of new commitments in the programme for Government, further exploration of certain issues was necessary. In that context, I established the legal advisory group in September 2002 to assess the legal changes that may be required if Ireland's defamation laws are to be brought into line with those prevailing in other states. This initiative was designed to give effect to the commitment in the programme for Government. The group was given three broad terms of reference, which are well known. The advisory group report contains 23 separate recommendations. The media coverage and comment since the publication of the report have perhaps understandably focused mainly on the statutory press council. There is a number of other important recommendations in the report which have not been the subject of much media comment or analysis, for example the proposed new defence of reasonable publication, the suggested re-balancing of the role which judge and jury have currently in defamation actions that are commenced in the High Court, the Circuit Court to have jurisdiction in all defamation claims where the amount of the damages claimed does not exceed €50,000, a suggested one-year limitation period, as the NNI suggested some years previously, and the enshrining in legislation of a defence to be known as the "defence of innocent publication" that would be available to, among others, broadcasters, distributors, printers and Internet service providers. A suggested text for a new defamation Act that would replace the Defamation Act 1961 was put forward by the advisory group, which was very useful. Since we are concerned with a potential legislative outcome it is very informative to see how the recommendations translate into legislative form.