Jim O'Callaghan

The Defamation (Amendment) Bill will abolish juries in High Court defamation cases in what are the biggest reforms in this area of the law since 2009.

Justice, home affairs and migration minister Jim O’Callaghan said the bill “balances and safeguards the rights to freedom of expression with the protection of a person’s good name and reputation, and the right of access to justice”.

He said the bill would “reduce legal costs and delays for all parties in defamation proceedings” and had taken into account the recommendations of the 2022 review of the Defamation Act 2009.

Key reforms in the Defamation (Amendment) Bill include:

• reform of the role of juries in High Court defamation cases;
• statutory jurisdiction for the Circuit Court to make orders requiring identification of anonymous posters of defamatory material;
• an amended and simplified defence for publication in the public interest;
• new statutory defences for ‘retail defamation’ cases and for live broadcasting;
• the introduction of a ‘serious harm’ test for bodies corporate;
• measures to encourage alternative dispute resolution including a revised ‘offer of amends’ procedure;
• the introduction of safeguards to prevent abusive proceedings against public participation (SLAPPs) including early dismissal, security for costs and the ability for targets of SLAPP proceedings to seek declarations, more generous costs orders and damages.

The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration has now published the general scheme of further legislation which will extend this bill’s anti-SLAPP provisions to other civil and commercial proceedings.

The Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation Bill will complete transposition into Irish law of the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive.

Mr O’Callaghan said: “SLAPPs are recognised, nationally and internationally, as a significant challenge to press freedom, and a danger to democracy itself, given the effect they have on the work of investigative journalists and others including those involved in protection of human rights.

“The EU Anti-SLAPP Directive requires minimum protective measures to be available for those targeted by manifestly unfounded or abusive civil proceedings as a result of their engagement in matters of public interest.

“Our legislation will however go beyond the minimum requirements of the directive - in that it will apply to all defamation proceedings not just to those with cross-border implications”

The protective measures regarding SLAPPs include: 

• accelerated court determination of an application for the court to strike out proceedings which are argued to be manifestly unfounded;
• a mechanism to seek a court declaration identifying unfounded and abusive proceedings as a SLAPP;
• provision for the court, if it sees fit, to award costs (on a basis which is more favourable to the defendant than the usual) where the court has declared the proceedings at issue to be a SLAPP; and
• the ability for targets of proceedings declared to be a SLAPP to seek damages in compensation for any harm suffered as a result of those proceedings.