Seanad report:Members on both sides of the House strongly condemned the treatment by the Irish Daily Star of Minister for Health Mary Harney over the proposed regime for nursing home charges for the elderly.
Speaking in the debate on the Defamation Bill, which passed second stage, Terry Leyden (FF) said the headline, "Mary the Blood Sucker" was one of the lowest forms of journalism. As a result of this publication, he believed the Cabinet should reconsider whether there should be a self-regulating press council. The readers of that newspaper should boycott it until it issued an apology.
Joe O'Toole (Ind) said he had had a serious argument with The Irish Times which, he believed, had libelled him. He had not received satisfaction, but was offered a right of reply which he chose not to take because it was not what he had been seeking.
He said his greatest difficulty with a press council concerned the lack of sanctions. He would table an amendment to provide for the imposition of fines. He also believed the council would have teeth if it could order the closure of publications for specified periods.
Tony Kett (FF) said for the Irish Daily Star to malign someone who had given her life to politics showed the newspaper up for what it was. Democratic society was entitled to a press that abided by high standards and good ethics.
Sheila Terry (FG) said the article was unacceptable. "It is disgraceful and a shame on the newspaper that carried it."
Ann Ormonde (FF) said she wondered if, following the passing of the Bill, there would be enough power to deal with the "gutter-type" of article on Ms Harney.
Feargal Quinn (Ind) said the Bill should specify a system of damages that would set out the broad parameters of damages that could be awarded. The amount could be adjusted by ministerial order to take account of changing circumstances.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said he had spoken to Ms Harney about the article and had told her he would take the opportunity to express his revulsion at what had been published.
"In fairness to her, she's a gentle and decent person. She said: 'please don't, because it will only add petrol to the flames and reignite the controversy'. Her decency contrasts dramatically with the cowardice of whoever would do that with a newspaper."
Referring to the controversy over proposed privacy legislation, he said that if there was a problem with protecting privacy it was incumbent on those who saw a problem with the Government's proposals to suggest alternative proposals. He appreciated that the media was concerned about the pre-emptive injunction issue, which it believed could hinder investigative journalism.
Martin Mansergh (FF) said his party colleague Ann Ormonde was correct in that the Defamation Bill covered only a fraction of the matters to which one might take exception in the media. "It will not get rid of scurrility in objective terms or what one might consider to be such. There is no way of doing that other than under the auspices of some type of authoritarian regime."