Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

Yes, indeed. I welcome this change. The last time the Bill was discussed, I pointed out that the plaintiff must give an affidavit and the defendant is not defined in the Bill. I had some concerns that if one is suing a broadcaster or a newspaper — I will stick with the newspaper — it may be unclear who the defendant is. Is it the newspaper itself, the reporter or the editor? There may be a need to define who the defendant is under this section. If a defence of honest opinion is put forward, it comes back to whose opinion that was. I envisage difficulties and confusion in this regard and the possibility of obfuscation. As a consequence, there may be difficulties for the plaintiff in processing his or her case. I am not sure how this could be dealt with.

Let us say a reporter writes an article containing information which he or she believes to be true but the editor knows is not. Alternatively, a reporter may write an article knowing it to be defamatory and surmising it to be untrue, but the editor must defend the case. Are we leaving a lacuna that makes the processing of cases difficult? I ask the Minister whether there is a need to define the defendant and whether we might seek a responding affidavit from both the editor and the reporter in my example. Clearly, if the defendant is claiming the defence of honest opinion, this is being asserted to the court by both of them, because they both have a responsibility in the publication of the article — one writes it and the other decides to publish it, perhaps attaching a headline which puts a further spin on the issue. We know from reading headlines in newspapers that they often bear very little relation to the actual articles and can be very critical or defamatory in their language due to the focus on selling newspapers. We must be careful in this matter. Speaking as a non-legal person, perhaps we should tighten the provision. I welcome the Minister's amendment in general, as it will improve the section immensely.