Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I wish to add my voice to those of the Minister and my colleagues because this requires clarification. The distinction requiring to be made concerns the situation in which several people hear or read defamatory comments, which is the basis of most defamation cases, and appears to be what the phrase "multiple publication" seeks to convey. There is also, however, a legitimate concern about whether the re-broadcast of a television programme or the publication of another edition of a newspaper with the same article reprinted at another time are separate acts of defamation which should give rise to separate causes of action or at the very least to the award of aggravated damages.