Excessive awards for defamation: Strong case for reforming law

Traditional media like newspapers, television and radio are circumspect in voicing complaints about the very high level of court awards for damages in Ireland for defamation.

They do not wish to face accusations of using the power of the media to promote an argument in their favour.

However, the case for amending our defamation laws is a strong one and has just been supported by the board of the World Association of Newspaper and News Publishers which notes that damages for defamation in Ireland are often 10 times higher than in most other jurisdictions.

While the 2009 Defamation Act sought to modernise the law, it has had little effect on awards. Juries are notorious for making huge awards while the Supreme Court recently

issued an award of €1.25m, an amount that even the European Court of Human Rights found to be not just excessive but damaging to the cause of freedom of expression.

While users of social media online can publish, without retribution, the most vile and unfair comments deliberately designed to cause distress, the press and broadcasters face extraordinary punishment for minor mistakes.

Even an inaccurate report or comment that leads to no more than momentary embarrassment for the subject matter can result in an award of hundreds of thousands of euro.

A right to reputation is a valued right but so is freedom of expression. We need a regime that honours both.