"Irish Defamation Bill moves closer to becoming a new Act", 6 June 2023

On 28 March 2023, Minister for Justice Simon Harris received cabinet approval for priority drafting of the General Scheme of Defamation (Amendment) Bill (the General Scheme) and referral of the General Scheme to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice for pre-legislative scrutiny.

The Report of the Review of the Defamation Act 2009 (the Review) was published in March 2022 which provided several recommendations in order to advance the General Scheme...

The General Scheme includes important proposed reforms of defamation laws which has been long overdue in Ireland and is a step closer to a new defamation act...

In May 2023, the Council of the Bar of Ireland (the Council) made submissions to the Joint Committee on Justice in relation to the General Scheme...

Insertion of new anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) measures

The General Scheme describes SLAPPs as:

Strategic and abusive use of vexatious litigation, by a powerful entity or individual to weaken and deter public interest discussion (and in particular, investigative journalism).

The General Scheme proposes to insert a new Part to tackle these abusive defamation actions. This will allow a complainant to apply to court for summary dismissal of defamation proceedings that they believe are a SLAPP.

The Council describes this insertion as a “far-reaching proposal”. While supportive of this new measure, the Council has warned that the wording relating to SLAPPs has the potential to have a much broader application, scope and effect than might be intended...

Minister Harris indicated that a full bill will be before the Oireachtas by the end of the year. Therefore, it is considered that the earliest point at which the above recommendations will be enforced will be in quarter four of 2023.