The 2025 annual conference of the Media, Internet & Data Protection Bar Association (MIDBA) offered attendees insight into the major issues pertaining to media, data protection and internet law from the past year.

The keynote address was delivered by the High Court president, Mr Justice David Barniville, who addressed the conference on the topic of “Ireland as a Hub for Technology Law”.

The first panel, pictured above, saw Declan Harmon BL, Laura Fannin of Hayes Solicitors, Mark Finan BL and panel moderator Emily Gibson BL start off the afternoon with a discussion on “Data Subject Access Requests: The Whos, Hows and Whys of DSARs”.

The second panel of the day posed the question: “Australia has banned social media for U16s: Should Ireland follow suit?”

Michael O’Doherty BL, chair of MIDBA, told attendees: “The reality that everyone is now a publisher of potentially defamatory material — these are not abstract, theoretical debates. These are live issues for regulators, courts and clients.”

The panel included contributions from Alex Cooney, CEO of CyberSafeKids; Johnny Ryan, Irish Council for Civil Liberties; and Conor Power SC.

The final panel, “Media Law in the Digital Age”, featured leading experts in the field including Paula Mullooly, general counsel at A&L Goodbody; Ted Harding SC, Ronan Lupton SC and Paul Tweed, founding partner at WP Tweed & Co.