Rabbitte to fight FG on privacy law bid

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has warned his Fine Gael Cabinet colleagues he will fight attempts by them to bring in privacy laws.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Transport Minister Leo Varadkar have both pushed the idea of statutory regulation of the media in recent months.

However, Mr Rabbitte has made it clear he is against such a move.

“I would be very reluctant to go down the road of a privacy law. I think it is taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut and could be counterproductive in terms of the role the media and free expression ought to be playing in a free society.

“I would be very reluctant to contemplate, or be forced to contemplate, a privacy law,” Mr Rabbitte said.

Following The Irish Daily Star’s decision to publish topless photos of Kate Middleton, Mr Shatter said he was looking at reviving privacy law legislation put together under the last Fianna Fáil administration.

Mr Rabbitte said: “He [Mr Shatter] has certainly expressed strong views on it and there are people right across society who are concerned and horrified at what has happened on the other side of the Irish Sea and are unhappy that there seems to be a dumbing down of standards here, but I am unsure that a privacy law is a solution to that.

“We would have to have that debate if there was any attempt to reproduce or to revive that [Fianna Fáil] bill. I would be reluctant to agree to it — I couldn’t see myself agreeing to it.”

He suggested it was naive to assume some of the illegal media activity like phone hacking, which triggered the Leveson inquiry into press standards in Britain, had not also occurred here in the past.

“I think you’d be very foolish to say that none of the bad practices that we have seen across the water are replicated here. You can’t say that,” Mr Rabbitte said.

“It is only a suspicion that it may have. It’s rather caution about declaring that it hasn’t happened because I don’t think that I [should] make such a statement.

“The experience that we have seen in Britain suggests there is an unwarranted and indefensible intrusion into the privacy of citizens.”

Mr Rabbitte said Ireland’s system of regulation under the Press Council appeared to be working well. “The architecture that we have in place has stood up well. You could say that it hasn’t been severely tested. Leveson himself was impressed by it.

“If it was found wanting, if a part-hard case emerges, then we would have to look at that,” he said.

Mr Shatter said a balance needs to be struck between the need for legitimate investigative journalism and “creepy keyhole” practices.

Mr Varadkar and Jobs Minister Richard Bruton have also expressed support for privacy laws following the revelations of wrong-doing by the British media.