Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-10-15
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

One of the concerns I have relating to what we have heard from Senator McDowell is that the word "likely" is very amorphous. The language is still not clear. I suggest that even if the legislation used the word "probable" that would be the case. I know we are using these hypothetical examples of a large corporation suing a small corporation and that perhaps speaks to a different issue. These are questions about whether cases are being caught early enough. If cases are being brought by a competitor, that is a different issue that may need to be addressed. In that case, there may be mal intent in the defamation that is tied into intent about a competitor acting. In the multiple examples I gave, a lot of the cases taken by corporations were in fact taken against individuals, NGOs, whistleblowers, civil society organisations, health and safety experts and journalists who report matters. There is a balance with all of this.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-10-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:14+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-15