Defamation Bill proposals soon, says McDowell

Media conferenceProposals for a new defamation Bill could be brought before the Government before the end of this year, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has said.

However, Mr McDowell said that he is not now convinced of the need for any changes in the law on privacy.

Addressing a conference on the Irish media at the weekend, Mr McDowell indicated that he was "broadly supportive" of the emerging consensus that any press council would not be subject to political appointment.

But he stressed that this was only his "preliminary reaction" and the decision would ultimately rest with the Government.

The Minister regretted that the issue of a statutory press council had dominated media coverage to the exclusion of other important recommendations made last year by the Legal Advisory Group on Defamation.

These included the proposed new defence of "reasonable publication"; a suggested rebalancing of the roles of judge and jury in High Court libel actions; the Circuit Court to have jurisdiction in all defamation cases where damages claimed do not exceed €50,000; and a recommended one-year limitation period for taking actions.

But Mr McDowell added that the debate on defamation had at least persuaded some in the media that there was an issue about standards: "The media are better at giving it than taking it. If one criticises the media, the jaded cliche that one is killing the messenger will be flung back. Until this, there had not been a significant debate on the issue." The Minister was giving the opening address at the 10th Cleraun Media Conference.

The event, which is held biennially, is organised by Opus Dei, a prelature of the Catholic Church devoted to helping Christians "strive for holiness in and through their work".

This year's conference took the theme of "professional integrity" in the media.

On the issue of privacy, Mr McDowell said he was not convinced the existing law needed changing. The constitutional right to privacy had been vindicated by a number of cases, including that taken by journalists Geraldine Kennedy and Bruce Arnold, "following the wrongful tapping of their telephones". The potential of the existing Irish law on privacy was also illustrated by the 1997 Bermingham case, in which a professional model successfully sued a tabloid newspaper over surreptitiously-taken photographs.

"The question for legislators is whether, since breach of privacy is already recognised as being actionable, there is anything significant that might be done by way of legislation. Nothing has emerged to date which suggests that approach."

The Minister acknowledged the media in Ireland had embarked on the task of drafting a code of standards.