David Norris (Independent)

I am opposing section 18 because the notion of honest opinion seems to be a libeller's charter, as it was known for some time. One must be careful about allowing someone to put something in a newspaper because he or she believes it to be true when it is untrue. It would not be fair, particularly when combined with the extraordinary distinction drawn later in the Bill, implicitly if not clearly stated, between public figures and ordinary citizens. This follows an American judgment some years ago. It is not enough that people believe something is right. They should be required to prove the sting of the libel to prove they are right.

Could the Minister return subsection 18(3)(a) to the draftspeople and ask them to draft it in comprehensible English? It states:

Where a defendant pleads the defence of honest opinion and the opinion concerned is based on allegations of fact to which subsection (2)(b)(i) applies, that defence shall fail unless the defendant proves the truth of those allegations, but the defence shall not fail by reason only of the defendant's failing to prove the truth of all of those allegations if the opinion is honest opinion having regard to the allegations of fact the truth of which is proved.

How in the name of God could an ordinary person or a qualified lawyer understand this collection of gobbledegook? If I read that in a Trinity essay, I would fail the student. It is a collection of suspended clauses and deferred premises. It is ghastly. Perhaps some of my brighter colleagues know what the subsection refers to, but I lost the principal clause by the time I was half way through.

Could the draftspeople insert an occasional full stop as a courtesy to the weary reader and to break up the sentence? It would give one an opportunity to know what the law is about. Good law is understandable by the citizen and does not require a legal Einstein to know what is happening. I am not blaming the current draftspeople because I have a feeling this wording was lifted from the 19th century and stuck into the Bill. When we lift these archaic paragraphs, they should be expressed in plain English.