Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Some Senators seem to be under a misapprehension about the defamation law in that it somehow serves to protect our feelings. It is true that the law of delict in continental countries protects the feelings of the hurt individual in the context of the publication of statements. There is a famous story about a professor in civil law in a continental university who screamed and roared at one of his students and claimed subsequently that this behaviour would not be actionable in a common law country. The student in question replied: "True, it would be mere vulgar abuse." The point is our law of defamation does not protect people in respect of their hurt feelings, much as the prospective plaintiff may think that to be the function of a libel action. The purpose of our law is to protect the reputation of persons.

A number of interesting points have been made on the section. There is the extent to which a corporate body, as distinct from a natural person, is entitled to have its reputation protected. Senator O'Toole instanced an example of an organisation of which he was a part, which I take was the INTO. He suggested a statement was published which was defamatory of him, meaning it was defamatory of him as a person. It was not defamatory of the organisation.