David Norris (Independent)

I thank the Minister and his advisers for the careful, reasoned and balanced approach they have taken to the Bill, which I find heartening. They noticed the tweaking I had done, but I accept more needs to be done. Obviously, people who take street photographs as an art form should not be excluded. The Minister stated, "...there is no substantial evidence that the indefensible excesses of the British tabloid media have been applied to prey on individuals in this state." However, there is such evidence which I undertake in the next few months to provide for the Minister directly, I hope with confidence, in order that he can consider it at his leisure.

The preamble to the Press Ombudsman's code of practice refers to the right of a newspaper to publish what it considers to be news. I find this laughable and offensive. The highest figure for truth and accuracy was 116 in the most recently published figures and the second, at 90, was for the invasion of privacy. The Minister may have more recent figures, but they have not yet been published.

With regard to the Press Council in Britain, Lady Buscombe said she had found it impossible to control the newspapers, that she had struggled to be independent of the industry and that she had failed. The central theme in the submissions to the Leveson inquiry is that there was a cavalier disregard for solid, old-fashioned journalistic virtues such as engaging in methodical analysis and research and producing solid evidence. The same might well be said in Ireland but for different reasons. A culture has developed here in which there is scant regard for privacy or principle, deep research or time consuming trawls for evidence. The media have moved well beyond reportage and are engaged in news making. I refer to the case of the Polish woman who asked, "How is it possible for anyone to publish something that is just not true, completely not true? It is just misinterpretation or mistranslation. It is just a completely different story." There was also the case of The Star on Sunday publishing a photograph related to a case being heard in camera . In another the name, address and occupation of a witness were published.