James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to the House and thank him for staying for the duration of this important debate on privacy and defamation. With increasing incidents of invasions of people's privacy, the Fine Gael Party is anxious to see the early establishment of a press council. Will the Minister give an update as to the status of his proposals to do so? Members spoke of particular incidents of the invasion of individual's privacy. I recall a former Minister in County Roscommon who suffered several intrusions into his privacy and various untruths written about him. His only means of redressing the issue was through the courts. Thankfully, he shone in the courts and compensation was received. However, it is not fair on any individual, be it a celebrity, politician or an ordinary member of the public, to have to resort to the courts for redress. A body must be established to do so. A debate on the issues of defamation and privacy must include a discussion on press regulation. Despite an Oireachtas debate in the recent past, not much has been done to advance the establishment of a press council and related matters. The council envisaged would form part of the defamation Bill currently being drawn up by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Minister has been quoted as saying that he favours a voluntary press council backed by statutory powers to sanction publications that breach privacy. He rightly refers to a council without statutory powers as a "toothless dog". It is up to the Minister to ensure that the dog has a full set of molars and it is his responsibility to put them in place.

Historically, the press has always operated and continues to operate in a largely unregulated environment. One could say that freedom of the press is valued in any democracy, but there are boundaries and it is the crossing of those boundaries that we are here today to discuss and rectify. Many incidents were quoted during the debate.

Fine Gael is in favour of the establishment of a press council. We have clearly set out our guidelines for this council as being representative of the social partners, the wider public interest, editors, publishers and journalists, with an independent chairperson. Mindful of the freedom of the press, it is important that we draw a line between a democratic society and the preservation of the vital role that the free press plays in our democratic society. However, freedoms have been abused by a small number of journalists and the privacy of every person must be safeguarded by the legislation.

The case for the reform of defamation law has been strongly made over the past few years and by many Members present today. The then Minister published a Private Members' Bill on defamation in 1995. Despite a consensus which I am sure could be said to be cross-party we are still a long way from addressing this matter and the Government has still not published the much promised defamation Bill. Despite technological advances and the increasing breadth of the media, the tort of defamation, which essentially balances freedom of speech against the right of a person to his or her good name, is primarily governed in this country by a 40 year old Act.

In 2001, Fine Gael published a document, Press for Change, which contained proposals for a major overhaul of our outdated libel laws. While we essentially support the proposed reforms contained in the legal advisory group's draft Bill, it fails to address many important issues such as the retention of juries in defamation cases, the changing of the rules governing court lodgements in defamation cases and the provision to allow a genuinely mistaken libel to be alleviated by an immediate apology.

There is urgent need for a forum of regulation of the press in which the public can have confidence. Last year the Minister initiated a public consultation process on the new legislation and met the press industry to discuss its proposals for a press ombudsman and press council, but no outcome is apparent. The Minister referred to this earlier.

In Ireland, by and large our media serve us well. They are in general an honourable group and do not engage in the sort of carry-on seen before the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the sort of photograph hunts that have blighted the lives of so many celebrities throughout the world. Times are changing and a few rotten apples can do a great deal of damage. It is important that legislation is brought forward so that such people are stopped in their endeavours because their only agenda is to sell their papers. To do so they will write any sort of dirt. I welcome any proposals to stop that sort of carry-on in civil and democratic society.