Defamation Reform of 20 March 2025

Defamation Reform of 20 March 2025

Introduction

In August 2024, Helen McEntee, the then Minister of Justice, sought Cabinet approval to introduce draft legislation to overhaul Ireland’s defamation laws. Proposed reforms include aiming to reduce legal costs for those who bring a defamation claims, providing better legal protection for responsible public interest journalism, and proposing the abolition of jury trials for defamation actions, together with the introduction of measures to tackle online defamation.

However, by the dissolution of Dáil Éireann in November 2024, it appeared that the reforms proposed in the Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024 (the “Defamation Bill”) would be an unfortunate casualty of the cabinet reshuffle. That was until the publication of the Spring 2025 Legislative Agenda, in which the new government committed themselves to defamation reform by returning the Bill to the legislative programme.

The Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024

The Defamation Bill seeks to significantly reform the current legislation governing defamation in Ireland, the Defamation Act 2009 (the “Defamation Act”). Reforms proposed by the Bill include:-

• The introduction of a clearer and more accessible defence of fair and reasonable publication in the public interest;

• a statutory power for the Circuit Court to issue a ‘Norwich Pharmacal’ order, directing a digital services provider to identify an anonymous poster of defamatory online material (only the High Court can issue such orders under the current legislation);

• give effect to the EU Directive on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings, more commonly known as SLAPPs (‘Strategic lawsuits against public participation’) in so far as it relates to defamation proceedings, and a power for the courts to award damages for harm suffered by a person targeted by SLAPPs; and

• amending the Defamation Act so that High Court defamation actions shall not be tried with a jury.

Further reforms?

The Defamation Bill currently sits at the Committee Stage (Third Stage) of the Oireachtas, and it is unclear at present whether the reforms put forward in the Bill will be subject to further amendments before it is enacted.

One of the proposed reforms which has been the target of significant criticism is the proposed abolition of jury trials for defamation actions. While the government believes the abolition of jury trials in defamation proceedings will tackle the issue of excessive damages being awarded in such actions (awards that have often been substantially reduced on appeal), retired High Court Justice, Bernard Barton, has levelled sharp criticism against the proposed removal of jury trials for defamation actions. Mr Justice Barton believes the planned abolition of juries in defamation law reform to not only be ‘undemocratic’, but also that the government’s argument is based upon a ‘factual and legal dishonesty’ as, he argues, it disregards the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Higgins v Irish Aviation Authority. This decision, which proposed mandatory guidelines for awarding damages in all future defamation cases, was recently endorsed of by Mr Justice Martin Nolan in the 2024 High Court case of Casey v McMenamin, who approved of the categorisation of damages in defamation actions as set out by the Supreme Court in Higgins and awarded damages accordingly.

As such, it is unclear whether the proposed reforms will be incorporated or amended as the Defamation Bill passes through the Oireachtas, however the government have made clear their intention to proceed with reform of defamation legislation as a matter of priority.

For more information please contact   cmaguire@reddycharlton.ie