Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-11-12
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

Amendment No. 11, put forward by Senator Keogan, and amendment No. 12, which has not been moved but was referred to by Senators Higgins and Ruane, seek to amend the definition of abuse of proceedings against public participation contained in section 19. These amendments would substitute the requirement in the current definition of abusive court proceedings against progressive participation that such proceedings would have as their main purpose the prevention, restriction or penalisation of public participation with the requirement that such proceedings have the effect of preventing, restricting or penalising public participation.
Senator Keogan's amendment also proposes a change to part (c) of the definition, which currently provides that SLAPPs may involve intimidation, harassment or threats on the part of the plaintiff, or his or her representatives, before or during the proceedings, as well as similar conduct by the plaintiff in similar concurrent cases. Senator Keogan's amendment would remove the reference to such actions taking place before, during or after the proceedings, as well as similar conduct by the plaintiff in similar or concurrent cases. My concern is that amendments Nos. 11 and 12 cast the net too widely and introduce an element of uncertainty and confusion to the definition. This is because the definition would provide, on the one hand, that a SLAPP case is one that is not brought to generally assert or access a right and, on the other, that it includes any case that has the effect of preventing, restricting or penalising public participation.
This gives rise to potential difficulty with respect to claims which are genuinely brought in good faith to vindicate a party's right to a good name but may have the effect of restricting public participation.

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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