THE Attorney General and a Circuit Civil Court judge have accepted that journalists should be asked to reveal sources of confidential information only when necessary for the administration of justice. The decision in the case of a Star reporter, Mr Barry O'Kelly, could have a major impact on media law.
Counsel for the Attorney General and the presiding judge accepted that a journalist could be asked to reveal his sources only when it was both relevant and necessary for the administration of justice.
The National Newspapers of Ireland said this was a development which it had been advocating for years and was part of its submission to the Law Reform Commission on sources.
In the last major court case about sources, the late Kevin O'Kelly of RTE was imprisoned for refusing to reveal his sources.
Because Mr O'Kelly's refusal did not affect the outcome of the case his prison sentence was reduced to a fine. In that case, in 1972, however, the question of how necessary it was to ask the journalist to break confidentiality was not raised.
The test of necessity was first introduced into English law in a judgment by Lord Denning in 1967.
However, this year the European Court of Human Rights found for a British journalist, Mr Bill Goodwin, who had been convicted of contempt. The court said his rights under Article 10 of the convention had been breached because of the journalist's right to report and the public's right to information.
Counsel for Mr Barry O'Kelly argued that Irish law had either developed or was in breach of the European Convention.