Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)

It shows the usefulness of the Upper House that we are having a very detailed discussion about this. I also note what Senator McDowell said about Report Stage. I did not know that. I am not guaranteeing anything but I will consider whether amendments can be tabled to take into account what Senators said.

I want to clarify for Senator Craughwell that I did not say it was in the public interest that the Garda investigation would get into the public domain. I said the defence of truth allowed it as a defence to say there was a Garda investigation. I recognise that can be a breach of statute and a criminal offence. It can also constitute a breach of a person's privacy. Senator Craughwell spoke about the impact on families. That is certainly the case. It is part of the consequence of defamation that is not really recognised in our statutory scheme. There have been prosecutions for the release of information from An Garda Síochána about investigations. There have also been convictions. The Senator spoke about social media and said there are outrageous publications on social media. That is the case. In many instances, if somebody wants to get information about the publisher on social media, at present they have to go court to get a Norwich Pharmacal order to get the details. Like the Senator said, they can use whatever name they want. Ultimately, people will still have to apply to the social media company to get the details identifying the publisher. Social media companies say that has to be through a court process because they want the protection of a court process.That, eventually when we get to it, is apparent from the new statutory scheme I am introducing later in this Bill. There was mention of emails coming in making outrageous allegations. Unfortunately, we live in a world where lots of people produce crazy defamatory publications about people. If it is published to one person it is defamatory, but because of the proliferation of defamatory publications a lot of us do not bother doing anything about them. I used to think people believed everything they read but as time goes on, people are becoming more discerning and they recognise not everything they read is true. I will push section 11 to a vote.