Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-11-12
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Michael McDowell (IND), National University of Ireland

I appreciate what the Minister is saying about the use of the term "live broadcast" but it is referred to in the first line of section 27A as the title of the defence. I do not think the offside rule, so to speak, applies to our drafting in that respect. The simple fact is that the broadcast of a live programme is not defined at all in the section. In defence of our drafting, line 2 on page 11 refers to a "live broadcast defence". We are saying that when used in this context it would include the short break provision and protection we propose.
I have a more radical objection to our own amendment, if I may say that, which is that it refers to utterances only. The Minister's purpose in providing this defence would apply to placards, photographs, banners and the like in broadcasts.
It is not just studio broadcasts that would be covered by this. A live broadcast of a demonstration outside this House might pan across a demonstration and there might be a grossly defamatory placard on show. An image, in addition to utterances, might be included in the defence.
In relation to the last remark I made, I remember a case that was brought where the Secretary General of the then Department of Justice, the late Peter Berry, objected to a photograph appearing in a newspaper of Peter Berry as felon setter. He contended in his libel action that "felon setter" was a defamatory term in Ireland, which was probably the truth at the time, even though it was in the function of the Department of Justice and the police to apprehend felons and bring them to justice. One of the leading cases concerns the imputation of that placard being shown in a photograph.
There is a wider issue, but I will withdraw the amendment with the permission of the House, on the understanding that I may revisit it at a later stage.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-11-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:18+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-11-12