Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-11-12
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Gerard P. Craughwell (IND), Labour Panel

We are largely talking about RTÉ and Virgin Media. One of the things that concerns me is that there has been a massive growth in podcasts. Some of them are really good and deliver excellent programmes regularly and with good timeslots, etc. On the other hand, some of them are run by what might best be regarded as fringe elements. Where do we stand here? Who is liable in a situation where you are defamed in one of these Internet-style programmes, which are set up in exactly the same way as an RTÉ or Virgin Media programme would be? It appears the Internet service provider is not liable and there seems to be no requirement for the platform on which the podcast takes place to be held to account for anything that happens there. We are now looking at the straw man or straw woman who has access to a social media platform and runs a radio-type programme online, with some of them having several thousand listeners. I am just wondering where that leaves us.

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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