SLAPP laws and media intimidation
Deputy Cairns raised concern about strategic lawsuits against public participation and the chilling effect on journalists and activists. The Taoiseach said the revised Bill would come soon, that enactment was hoped for next year, and argued people should use the Press Council rather than costly personal litigation.
I am very concerned about the prevalence of strategic lawsuits against public participation or so-called SLAPPs. As the Taoiseach knows, these lawsuits involve public figures, powerful individuals or rich corporations taking vexatious cases against the media, activists or, indeed, members of the public in an effort to muzzle their critics.
It is particularly concerning when journalists are personally sued in addition to the publisher as these cases can be financially ruinous. When proceedings are taken in the High Court, costs sometimes run into the millions of euro, forcing journalists and media outlets to settle out of court, even in cases they could win.
The effect of all this is that those with deep pockets can shut down debate and silence public interest journalism. Successive Governments have promised to reform our defamation laws for years, but we are still waiting. A true democracy needs a strong and responsible media that can hold powerful people and corporations to account. Pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the defamation (amendment) Bill-----
Comment on this
-----has been completed and a report was published in September. When can we expect the Government to publish the revised Bill?
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We will have that quite soon. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, is working on heads of the Bill and we hope to have that enacted next year.
I was not going to bring it up, but I do agree with the Deputy. People are entitled to sue the media if they so wish, but they do not have to. There are other ways to seek redress, one of which is a complaint to the Press Council of Ireland. That is the appropriate course that people should follow. To see a Member in this House not just suing a major newspaper but also personally suing a journalist is only designed to do one thing; it is designed to make journalists afraid. It is designed to make them think twice about what they write and that is wrong. There are other ways to get redress and corrections and clarifications. At the very least, the first step should be the Press Council of Ireland and not suing a news organisation, and particularly not suing a journalist individually. I think that is frightening, actually.