AN immediate and full apology, published in a prescribed format, should be a final settlement for libel and slander and should be a bar to further action, according to the author of Irish Law for the Layperson, Mr Michael O'Brien.
Mr O'Brien, a solicitor practising in Co Tipperary, said at a reception in Dublin to mark the publication of his book yesterday that the law was presented in a manner designed to confuse people and that the legal profession had to take some of the blame for that.