Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise an issue that affects many people, which is newspaper articles on inquests and the sheer stress and heartache this causes many families. When I speak, I like to use real-life examples. I will talk about a woman I know who lost her father on 5 October 2022. This man was also known as Daddy Cool because he was loved by his daughter and granddaughter so much that, in their eyes, he epitomised Daddy Cool. This man had a sudden death – a fall at home. It was unimaginable heartbreak for his family. His life was cut cruelly short in an accident. An inquest was ordered to establish the circumstances of his death. As we know, inquests are held in court, and journalists and the public can attend. Families are notified within 14 days of an inquest. In this case, a family member attended – not his daughter, as her grief was palpable and she could not bring herself to attend. Everything went as expected at the inquest and it was established that he died from an injury caused by a fall.Now move forward. The family of this man opened their local newspaper to see practically a half page story with a giant headline, “Died from an Injury Caused by a Fall”. Initially they thought it might be a lovely obituary for the man, but it was not. A journalist and an editor thought it was in the community's interest to write about the death of this very private man, and not only that, but to do so without informing his family. Not only was it horrific for his family to see explicit details of their cherished father's death, which went so far to describe his nightwear, but this man, like so many Irish men, loved a small drink before he went to bed, a comfort to which he was entitled, and the article listed the milligrammes of alcohol in his system. It went on to list his previous health information that even his family did not know about, such was the privacy this man enjoyed in his life. If he was ill, he was battling that himself, but when he died, all that privacy went out the window.

In life we can protect ourselves with GDPR but in death we cannot. That right is not only taken away, but in this case a family was left to read about it and deal with it. Daddy Cool's daughter was grieving, as were his family, and words here cannot express how that grief intensified because of that article. Imagine losing your dad and having every detail of what he was wearing, what he drank before he went to bed and his medical history being splashed across the newspapers. Would Members like that?

The Press Ombudsman has a code of practice and section 5 deals with privacy. Section 5.3 states:

Sympathy and discretion must be shown at all times in seeking information in situations of personal grief or shock. In publishing such information, the feelings of grieving families should be taken into account.

I would like to ask the Minister for arts, media and communications to come in and debate how we can prevent this happening to any more families. I have seen the impact this can have on a family and it is not good.