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INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS being sued for defamation will be able to apply to have their case struck out if a court deems it to be a strategic lawsuit.
A major overhaul of the State’s defamation regime seeks to target so-called Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs).
Also included in the changes is the removal of juries from High Court defamation proceedings and a statutory defence for the retail sector.
The changes are part of the Defamation (Amendment) Bill, which was approved by Cabinet and is due to come before the Dáil in the autumn. The full text of the bill is expected to be published on the Oireachtas website next week.
SLAPPs occur where a plaintiff launches unfounded defamation proceedings against an individual or organisation in order to silence investigations, discussions, or debates.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that they are “recognised internationally as a significant challenge to press freedom and democracy, given the chilling effect they have on the work of investigative journalists and others”.
The legislation will make it possible for a defamation case to be declared a SLAPP, allowing for the defendant to seek that it be struck out, and provide for an accelerated timeframe for the case. A defendant will be able to seek a declaration that a case is a SLAPP at any time.
It is understood that an amendment allowing the courts to award damages for harm suffered due to a SLAPP is to be presented in the future.
The removal of juries from High Court defamation proceedings is the other major change presented by the Bill.
Minister McEntee said that this was intended to “reduce the likelihood of disproportionate awards of damages, significantly reduce delays and legal costs, and reduce delays, legal costs, and the duration of hearings”.
It is understood that the level of damages being awarded by juries was consistently deemed to be too high, and tended to be reduced on appeal, leading to further legal costs and slowing down of judicial processes.
The decision as to how much damages will be awarded in cases will rest entirely with judges. It is understood that there will not be a cap placed on potential damages.
A provision to provide a defence for live broadcasters will also be introduced. This will allow a defence if the broadcaster can prove that proper precautions and actions were taken before and when a defamatory statement is made on air.
Examples include proper screening of guests before a broadcast so as not to feature an individual known to make defamatory statements on a topic, and immediately countering a defamatory statement and distancing the broadcaster from it while still on air.
These will be available to broadcasters as a separate defence, distinct from already existing provisions to mitigate damages.
Retailers
Retailers will also be to avail of the defence of “qualified privilege” to defamation proceedings, which is already present under the law, and applies when a statement is honestly made in good faith.
It will be available to retailers in instances such as, for example, when a person is stopped trying to walk past a checkout to leave a shop with goods, and asked to produce a receipt.
It is understood that the provision is being introduced in response to stakeholder concerns about a large increase recently in claims of verbal defamation against retail business, particularly small and medium businesses.
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Great news for rural Ireland in particular.
@Shane Dunne: great. €1 per stamp now…crazy price.
The local post office is a staple of many a village in Ireland. Next to the pub and the gaa pitch. Iconic, even.
Good – but they be forced to clean up a bit?
Most of them are an utter shambles – old posters everywhere, bits of tat on the walls. If they had competitors, you’d go elsewhere.
Yes, some are tidy but in general they’re a mess.
@Shane Diffily: I don’t know where these post offices are located that you frequent but I can honestly say that the post offices I’ve been in the last few months are immaculate! I’ll name a few….Ballymote, gurteen, frenchpark, ballaghaderreen, Castlerea, castlebar, all of which also have lovely staff.
@selfsustainable: Well said and I can add a few more to that list – Millstreet, Kanturk, Banteer, Newmarket, Boherbue & I’m sure there are plenty more in towns & villages that are a credit to those running them. Still this is the journal after all so whinging & rudeness as well as loads of begrudgery seem to be the norm.
@Mary Cullinane: So someone’s opinion of messy post offices from his experience is rudeness and begrudgery now? Is it so hard to believe that outside your reality that everything isn’t as rosy as you’d like to believe?
Nice to hear some are well kept. Not common in my experience.
@Mary Cullinane: why is @Shane Diffily’s offensive to you? There was no whinging, rudeness, or begrudgery anywhere in his comment. It seems to be a common problem on the journal comments section that if someone talks about their experience that is less than favourable, or is critical of something….people like yourself will come back with insults like whinging, begrudgery, rudeness, etc. Which is actually exactly what your comment is. You did the very thing that you accused @Shane Diffily of. If his experience with An Post offices being clean is less than favourable…that is his experience. Who are you to say it isn’t? Quite frankly. ..I have had both experiences. Some are run beautifully , and are spotless. Others….just the opposite. Some so badly run and filthy that I don’t know why they are tolerated, or how they are allowed to operate.
Finally….some good news!
@Patty Cullinane: There’s plenty of good news out there ,it’s a beautiful warm sunny day,there is full employment,people are flying off in their thousands for holidays Ireland won the Slam,even fewer rough sleepers on the streets , cheer up ,happy days
Beware – Post Office Announcement – STATUS RED WARNING:-
I’m hugely concerned about this development. Whilst I cannot be sure at this point, it is believed that Bank of Ireland will enter into a contract with the Post Offices to provide “Community” Banking throughout the country. The Pillar banks win and citizens and the indigenous economy loose. Government wins because it pulls a three card trick, i.e. saves the Post Offices and introduces “Community” Banking in the one stroke.
However, the market dominance of the pillar banks will be further enhanced and a potential competitor, i.e. Post Bank, will be removed from the equation.
If this plan is actually announced, then government is once again failing to deliver under Article 45 [2] (iv) (Directive Principle) of the Constitution, which states;
“that in what pertains to the control of credit the constant and predominant aim shall be the welfare of the people as a whole.”
Interest rates will remain exorbitantly high (as criminally fixed by the pillar banks in conjunction with and protected by government / regulators). Remember that German Public Banks currently offer 30 year mortgages, fixed for ten years at 1.1% and business loans as low as 1% and not exceeding 3%.
Credit Unions will come under even more pressure as people will be encouraged to save with their “community” bank which will be in a position to offer higher rates than Credit Unions (being as BoI can “create” credit unlike the Credit Unions).
Bank of Ireland will reduce its cost base and have its work done for a pittance by Post Offices; BoI shareholders win, society loses – again.
Aesthetically, this looks like a great move and will bring huge praise and fanfare to Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael but the reality is that Ireland needs real Public / Community banking to compete with the risk taking privately owned pillar banks. In fact, introducing competition to the banking sector was a prerequisite to the EU / ECB bail out of our the pillar banks.
The way forward for the Post Office Network is to replicate what the New Zealand government did in 2002; to set up Ireland’s version of the Kiwi Bank. Kiwi Bank now has 20% of the New Zealand market and growing – now that would be a problem for Ireland’s pillar banks, wouldn’t it. And this is the crunch, corpocracy wins again.
Please message me on Facebook with e-mail address for a copy of our (PBFI – Public Banking Forum of Ireland) preliminary proposal document – “Creating Ireland’s Alternative Banking Force”.
@Seamus Maye: I think one of the reasons interest rates are higher here is we have no repossessions ,so why would Germans or anyone offer loans on property here, when they can’t get it back,when the borrower refuses to pay back ,and stays in the house protected by the politicians and the courts,so interest rates are high,is that true ?
@Robert Harris: not really. Banks here gave out a lot of tracker mortgages which are now unprofitable as they are tied to the historically low ECB interest rate.
In many cases, they didn’t hold enough deposit monies either, relying on wholesale overnight money market lending to satisfy the capital reserve requirements.
When the collapse came, as they weren’t sufficiently capitalized to cover loan impairments, they needed huge bailouts. No-one wanted to loan them money without premium rates and they only way they could attract funds (apart from the bailout money) was to offer higher deposit rates.
All these costs were passed onto the variable rate mortgage holders as the trackers can’t be touched.
Rates have come down relatively well over the past 3-4 years and whilst they’re still higher than our European counterparts, so are our deposit rates.
ECB rates are likely to begin increasing from 2019 onwards and there’s no telling how much they’ll go up – might be an idea for those on decent variable rates to consider fixing for a 5 year plus term if they can secure a competitive rate.
Trackers will come up regardless and may well end up carrying the slack for the variables to equalize the rates overall.
Every Post Office should
– have an ATM ( hardly any one does)
- sell county & town specific stamps ( aimed at tourists and collectors)
- open late one night a week
- have a desk for the local credit union in each branch
- be agents for concert tickets sales etc ( as their market is older )
- have parcel collect services
- facilitate ebay and amazon sellers
- be a drop off point for all deliveries – like Parcel Motel units ( i know they do a similar service but you have to go to the depot)
Think like a business….
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Shame really, AnPost run an absolutely woeful service and the market should be opened up to allow real competition.
They can’t make deliveries and refuse to engage with people who have complaints.
A package of mine went missing for nearly a month, no help from their incredibly rude staff. Only when I reported them to ComReg and forwarded the emails I had received calling me a liar and blaming me did my package magically turn up and get delivered.
Take a look at their twitter timeline for a quick glance at how they treat the public who rely on their service.
@Mack: “I had one bad experience e with this company that, therefore they are irredeemable”
@Neal Ireland Hello.:
I wish it was only one experience.
They “misplaced” contracts that were sent by registered post in January that cost my company a tender worth 6 figures. Boss is currently pursuing legal action over it. Contracts still haven’t been found.
My 5 year old nephews birthday cards arrived ripped open last November. Thankfully no one was silly enough to trust them with money, but it’s obviously what they were looking for.
I could mention the data protection breach that a current staff member is about to blow the whistle on but I’ll wait until it hits the media so as not to spoil the surprise for everyone.
Will they open for lunch now?
Probably not.
Nice one unions.
@Dara O’Brien: Making the same money as a check out operator in Tesco, I’m sure being able to actually eat a lunch in the day is a boon.
@Jennifer Allen: yes, eating lunch is nice. Many small retail staff do it – they tAke it turns so they can stay open. I know it’s a complicated suggestion but if you think about it hard enough it’ll come.
@Dara O’Brien: How do you propose that a one person Post Office “take turns”?
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