Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

To follow through on the point I made earlier about the statement being true, I wonder whether we are proceeding with that. I heard what the Minister had to say on the advisability of it because of the codification. If section 24(1)(a) was to read, "[I]n good faith, following implementation of best practice in establishing the truth of the public statement, and...", then the term "In good faith" is qualified by compliance with best practice in the media and the newspaper business about establishing the truth. My understanding of the way the media operates is that if something is controversial or defamatory of somebody, it should not be published without corroborating evidence from other sources. At least that could put some degree of qualification on the term "In good faith". I am not sure whether it is perfect qualification, but it would certainly be an improvement on what is there. I share the concerns of other Senators that a lazy reporter could, in fact, just publish without establishing how factual or otherwise a statement was. The rest of the section contains some qualifications but this insertion, stating what is meant by fair and reasonable publication, ensures a definition that is as good and tight as it can be.