Lynn Ruane (Independent)

It will be minuscule in comparison to Senator McDowell's. I agree with Senator McDowell's points on discretion. I had some further thoughts about a case from about ten years ago in the UK, which has a similar criminal justice system to ours. I was also thinking about the media or somebody else saying that something happened and they were held liable and brought to court for defamation. I do not think we have seen any precedence in law yet here in Ireland in relation to this, but in the UK, about ten years ago, the wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sally Bercow, was held liable by Lord McAlpine, I think it was, for a tweet she sent. It is not only about what damages are given out in defamation cases, but it is also about the discussion on what is and is not considered to be defamation. In this case, Lord McAlpine was trending online regarding a report about claims about some misbehaviour around sexual abuse cases or something. Sally Bercow retweeted the report and asked the question, "Why is Lord McAlpine trending?", including an emoji after the question mark. That was it. She made no statement but posed a question.You could say the intent of that question was to draw attention. He was already trending, but anyway it made no statement of guilt or defamation or named him or anything like that. If I am correct, they do not have the right to a jury trial for defamation cases in the UK. Maybe I can be corrected on that. They do not have an automatic right, but the judge can make a decision if it is in the public interest, which coincides with the discussion that is happening. She was held liable for that with regard to defamation.

When I was listening to Senator McDowell, I was reminded why it is so important we have a right to a jury trial. The complexities that are still to be exposed in relation to some defamation cases, where a mere retweet of information that is out there, whether it is true or not, in the public realm or a reshare on Instagram can be considered as defamation, creating new and or precedents in Ireland. In the public interest, regarding the complexities, we are yet to know how defamation cases can unfold in the future regarding online behaviour or the sharing of stuff. When you look at the case ten years ago in the UK, it is quite concerning that a person could be held liable, and a law could be created in Ireland, based on sharing something and merely posing a question and that it was seen as defamation.

Answering the Senator's question specifically regarding what he raised, which was not answered in his first contribution, it is more important to me now as I remember that case and how scary it would be if a person could be held liable for a retweet or a share in which the person does not actually say anything. The person is not even saying whether he or she agrees with the allegation or not. No determination is being made on what is being shared; the person is merely sharing information that was already shared. Given the complexity of that, it is extremely important that people have a right to a jury trial, especially when it could lead to setting precedents for a brand-new area of law or defamation.