"The interpretation and construction of this Act will be a lawyer's
delight but will the public want the person who claims his or her
privacy has been breached to have a right under Section 13 a) to apply
to the court in advance of any publication or purported publication to
injunct a journalistic investigation which may be in the public
interest, and b) have this application heard in the journalist's
absence and in private with nobody else present, and c) allow the court
to direct that the identity of the applicant should not be disclosed
and d) that there should be no publication of the application or the
order? Compare this with Article 34 of the Constitution which provides:
"Justice shall be administered in courts established by law by judges
appointed in the manner provided by this Constitution, and, save in
such special and limited cases as may be prescribed by law, shall be
administered in public""
- Andrew O'Rorke, Hayes Solicitors (defamation advisers to the Irish Times), writing in that paper (paid sub
required)
"While the Bill makes provision for “an act
of newsgathering” as a defence it also imposes considerable qualifications on
that defence. Journalists have strong reasons to be concerned at how a court
might determine whether an ongoing investigation into the property portfolio of
an office holder, for example, would be deemed to be “a subject of public
importance, “for the public benefit and “deemed to be fair and reasonable in
all of the circumstances.”
This Bill, if implemented, would be an invitation to avoid legitimate scrutiny
through injunctions. At the merest whiff of an investigation there would be a
quick dash to the Four Courts to stop the investigation and to have the
material gathered seized"".
- NUJ
"This is a charter for people who have a lot to hide. I think there is
great scope for abuse of this legislation," said Mr McAleese.
"People who have got away with wrongdoing in the past are now being
told they can no longer use the libel laws. So those in the business of dodgy
libel laws are always going to use the next action available to them, which is
this privacy law".
- Simon McAleese, legal advisor to Independent News & Media, quoted in Media Guardian online (free sub required)
"it is a step too far, especially in a country where there have been a
succession of tribunals in recent years exposing politicians and
businessmen for indulging in blatantly corrupt practices. This is a bad
day for press freedom in Ireland, Britain and Europe".
- Roy
Greenslade, Media Guardian’s resident bloger
- Government approves Privacy Bill 2006 justice.ie
- Ireland to reform libel laws MediaGuardian.co.uk
- Irish privacy law will inhibit press freedom Greenslade
- Privacy Bill to accompany new defamation law Irish Times
- Privacy Bill Threat to Press Freedom nuj.org.uk
- Irish privacy law provokes anger MediaGuardian.co.uk
- Comment: McDowell’s Privacy Bill is not the solution SBPost
- Focus: Secret society timesonline.co.uk
Recent Comments