Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

6. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she is aware of concerns raised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties about the planned removal of juries from defamation trials; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38182/24]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On 25th July last, Minister McEntee and I received Government approval to publish the Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024.

This is an important Bill that balances and safeguards the rights to freedom of expression with the protection of a person's good name and reputation, and to access to justice. This legislation touches on the protection of our democracy itself and introduces measures designed to protect responsible public interest journalism.

Effective public participation must be safeguarded and journalists must be allowed to hold powerful individuals and organisations to account.

As the Deputy may be aware, the key purpose of the bill is to deter the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation – known as SLAPPs which are recognised, both here and internationally, as a significant challenge to press freedom, and a danger to democracy itself, given the chilling effect they have on the work of investigative journalists and others.

Section 4(1) of the Bill provides for abolition of juries in High Court defamation cases. The Government respects the strongly and sincerely held but differing views of stakeholders on this issue. Following long and detailed consideration, however, the Government has concluded that this is the right course to take. Effective public participation must be safeguarded and traditional media must be in a position to hold powerful individuals and organisations to account.

We should recall that juries have already been abolished in almost every other type of civil proceedings, most recently under the Courts Act 1988, and juries have already been abolished in Circuit Court defamation cases - with no adverse consequences - since 2009.

This reform is consistent with that approach and is expected to significantly reduce the incidence of excessive or disproportionate awards of damages; the particularly high legal costs and delays; the length of hearings in defamation cases and the high unpredictability of outcomes which can all have a chilling effect on media organisations.

The Bill is also designed to ensure greater clarity on the law and reduce the need for expensive appeals. In this complex area of law, the fact that a jury cannot give reasons for its decision can cause great uncertainty for stakeholders about its implications for other cases.