Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Senator Norris is entitled to his strong conviction but he should not attribute motives to those who proposed to amend the law, which are venal or corrupt. In 1991 the Law Reform Commission, which at the time was chaired by Mr. Justice Ronan Keane, published a report on defamation law. On page 10 of that report it is stated:

We referred in our Consultation Paper to the representations we had received on this subject. It appeared that, although s17 of the Defamation Act 1961 enables a defendant to give evidence in mitigation of damages as to the making or offering of an apology, the section is frequently not availed of by defendants because of a concern that an apology will be regarded as an admission of liability. We provisionally recommended that s17 should be replaced by a new provision making it clear that an apology to the plaintiff is not to be construed as an admission of liability. This proposal was generally welcomed.

The report then sets out a recommendation. In 1991, therefore, the Law Reform Commission, which had absolutely no snivelling or leg-licking motivation regarding the media——