Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his explanation. I understood a literal meaning of the word "direction". I would not be happy with a situation whereby a judge could tell a jury to award €50,000. Are we satisfied under this wording a judge cannot do this and be very prescriptive and direct a jury to award €20,000. What happens if the jury ignores a direction from the judge in such a circumstance or other general circumstances?

I have a point relating to small newspapers or those with limited resources. There was an incident before the Ryder Cup last year when the wife of one of the golfers was seriously defamed by a small newspaper. They must run the risk in a very serious case such as that of being put out of business, if needs be. I would not have any sympathy for them going out of business.

As the Tánaiste was speaking a question struck me of whether experts in the field could be called by defendant, plaintiff or judge to give some advice in general to a jury. Perhaps a High Court judge is the correct person to do so. A brief could be given to the jury, as it is a terrible waste of court time to have cases appealed because the award is off the wall, either too low or too high. We should aim for consistency in damages that is proportionate to the seriousness of the defamation.