Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

I will start by saying to Senator Craughwell that just because I was and Senator McDowell is a lawyer, that does not give us any greater authority to speak on these matters or to play the role of legislator.
With regard to the proposed amendment, it deals with the serious harm test that has been introduced for the corporate claimant in defamation proceedings. The Leas-Chathaoirleach may recall that in England and Wales there is a requirement, whether you are a corporate entity or a personal litigant, that you have to be able to establish serious harm in terms of bringing a defamation action. I did not go down that route in this country. I thought it would be inappropriate to do so and the process would simply prolong the defamation proceedings because we would have many interlocutory hearings after proceedings are issued, to determine whether or not serious harm had been done should the defamation case succeed.
However, it is appropriate that when it comes to a corporate plaintiff, there should be a requirement that the corporate plaintiff would not be able to recover in defamation unless it can establish the defamatory statement caused serious harm to its reputation. Corporate entities are different from personal litigants. Let us say a person makes a false, damaging and defamatory statement about a very large, well-known airline, suggesting it is dangerous or unreliable. If that airline has not been affected by the defamatory statement, there is a logic then to stating we should not give the airline a cause of action because it has to be able to establish it was damaged by the statement. A person taking an action for defamation has to be able to show they were damaged by the defamatory statement. The way they do that is by calling evidence or, if it is obvious by the defamatory statement if somebody accuses another person of something extremely serious and it is associated with that individual person, of course, the court would then be able to determine that has had a damaging impact on them. In respect of a corporate entity and corporate plaintiff, it should be necessary to show serious harm was caused to them as a result of the defamatory statement.
The part of the section Senator McDowell wishes to remove in this amendment is paragraph (3). It states: "Harm to the reputation of a body corporate that trades for profit shall not be considered to be serious harm ... unless it has cause ... serious financial loss.” That section distinguishes the charitable organisation Senator McDowell referred to, such as Trócaire, and the not-for-profit company, from the for-profit company. If you are a not-for-profit company or a charity such as Trócaire, as Senator McDowell referred to, you will not have to show financial loss. However, if you are a corporate, for-profit entity, you will have to establish that you suffered financial loss as a result of the defamatory statement. Otherwise, there is no damage done to you.
Damage to a for-profit company is determined by looking at its accounts to see if there was financial damage caused to the company. Obviously, in that case, one has to be able to link it, on the balance of probabilities, to the publication of the defamatory statement. That is a reasonable approach. Removal of paragraph (3) of what will be the new section 12 of defamation of a body corporate would be against the interests of justice. It is appropriate there is a requirement that if for-profit companies have to be able to show they sustained financial loss in order to succeed in a defamation action.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21