Joe O'Toole (Independent)

The reason I came here tonight was to talk on these two issues. I was having extraordinary difficulty reconciling the position on sections 34 and 35. I welcome that the Government, in an extraordinarily progressive move which has not been recognised outside of here, is taking libel out of the criminal area and making it a civil action. At the same time, section 35 appeared to provide for jailing people for certain types of libel. While I had strong sympathy with what was written into section 35 with regard to a person who knowingly and with the intention of causing injury to reputation publishes a false statement — I did not have sympathy for a person like that going to jail — I was trying to prepare an argument that would define and describe differently the crime of libel.

The Minister is to be congratulated. What we are about to do is significant, not just in Ireland but in western democracies. There is no democracy in western Europe which has removed libel completely from the criminal law area. This is a magnificent move and is a model for many emerging eastern countries where people are regularly put in jail for the slightest libel. This will stand the Minister in good stead when dealing with his colleagues in other European countries. It will also give him the right to talk about free speech and civil rights when dealing with emerging democracies.

I welcome this important move and hope the media takes note of it. It is a significant move and makes us the only European country to remove libel from the criminal law area. That should be recognised and welcomed. I hope journalists recognise it. This is an issue the National Union of Journalists and various international colleagues have raised in debate and consultation. It is something for which people like myself have fought over many years, namely, to achieve this balance between various kinds of rights. What the Minister has proposed is a step we need to take. He is also correct in stating that we need to examine the constitutional issues and how they might be responded to in civil law. It is worth a few bottles of champagne if the Minister can hold his position on this. I urge him not to be deterred by colleagues in Government when they come to recognise the importance of the decision.