Roddy Flynn: Libel laws could threaten future of Irish media companies

A conference has heard that Ireland's libel laws need to be changed to avoid the possibility of bankrupting media outlets.

It was part of a series of points aimed at protecting the plurality of the media here.

Other suggestions included an online database naming people with shares in media outlets.

DCU lecturer Roddy Flynn said the current libel laws offer little protection for media organisations.

"At the present there's no limit basically on the amount of damages that can be awarded to somebody who has successfully brought a libel case.

"The scale of damages in the past has been dramatic, up to €10m has been awarded, and I think the problem with that is that kind of scale of damages can actually put a media business out of business."