Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

It was the Minister for Justice of the day. My apologies. The tort of defamation essentially involves the reconciling of two conflicting constitutional rights. This is why it becomes such a contentious issue. The constitutional rights in question are freedom of speech as against the right to one's good name. Despite advances in technology and the increasing breadth of the media, with the advent of the Internet, etc, defamation in this country is primarily governed by an Act which is more than 40 years in existence and has not been amended to any great degree. In our document, Press for Change, published in October 2001, we suggested proposals for a major overhaul of Ireland's outdated libel laws.

We broadly support the proposed reforms as contained in the legal advisory group's draft Bill. However, we believe the Bill as drafted failed to deal with many important issues. We believe an apology should constitute real grounds for mitigation in court. We also believe that the rules governing court lodgements should be changed in defamation cases, so that acceptance of a lodgement is accompanied by a declaration from the court vindicating the complainant. We have full confidence in juries and believe they should be retained in defamation cases. An important amendment to defamation law in Ireland would be to allow genuinely mistaken inadvertent libel to be alleviated by an immediate apology.

Another important matter which the advisory group failed to deal with is that of deceased persons. We are firmly of the view that the good name of the deceased should be protected. All too often we see evidence of the attitude that once a person dies he or she is fair game for all kinds of untruth and allegation. That is very wrong and any defamation Bill which fails to address this would be grossly inadequate. I would like to hear the Minister's views on that point.

Although our pleas have fallen on deaf ears in the past, I want to drive home the need for reform of our defamation laws. We can shout and argue about the regulation of the press and the detail of privacy laws. However, we are all united on the need for defamation law reform. If the Minister brings forward a Bill to reform defamation laws which addresses the concerns I have raised, we will not be found wanting and will not obstruct the legislation. We will support it and so I look forward to such a Bill being brought forward by his Department.