John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

I join with others in extending my sympathy to Hazel Lawlor and the members of the Lawlor family on the untimely and tragic death of former Deputy, Liam Lawlor. Those of us who had battles with Mr. Lawlor in the past always found him to be very good company and a man of great humour who was very easy to relate to, irrespective of any other defects in his personality.

Some of the coverage of his death in the Sunday newspapers was outrageous. Senator Tuffy is correct in saying that the particular story in question should not have been published, irrespective of whether it was true. Any of us who had just lost a loved one would have enough to deal with without having to deal with the additional trauma caused by such a story. There was an enormous lapse in basic standards of journalism. I spent a considerable portion of my working life in journalism and one of its basic principles is that journalists check their stories. Excuses have now been made to the effect that the situation was confused and the coverage of the story was rushed. These are not acceptable excuses; they are unacceptable lapses from basic standards of good journalism.

It is slightly tiresome to hear journalists lecture politicians, clergy, doctors, lawyers and every other group in society on what their standards should be and how they should be accountable week after week when these same standards do not apply to journalists.