Defamation changes aim to stop ‘chilling effect’ of legal actions on media, McEntee says

A reformed defamation law will contain measures that the Government hopes will prevent political parties and big businesses from using the threat of legal action to hamper investigative journalism and political debate, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said.

The Ms McEntee was asked on Monday about comments made at the weekend by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who accused Sinn Féin of trying to “shut down debate” by threatening to sue political opponents and the media.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald is currently suing RTÉ for defamation in the High Court and is the latest in a series of party politicians to take defamation actions.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin, Ms McEntee said she agreed with the Taoiseach that the practice of threatening legal action could have a “chilling effect” on debate. She said proposals for a reformed defamation law would contain “a number of elements that we hope will prevent that type of chilling effect”.

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“I think that the very fact that political parties are sending legal letters not just to other colleagues but to many other news outlets, I do think that it does have a chilling effect, and I do think that we all need to reflect on that,” she said.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said it raised serious issues if you have a political party that “wants to be in Merrion Square leading a government of our country and not be willing to subject themselves to the same questions and accountability and the same processes that all of us are doing here today”.

Ms McEntee, who expects the defamation Bill to be published by the end of the year, said she hoped that elements of the law would address not just individuals and political parties, but also larger businesses and other organisations that might want to dampen or stop investigative journalism or something that was in the public interest.

The new law may, she said, include an “anti-Slapp mechanism, whereby a defendant to a libel claim can seek to have a case thrown out on the basis that it is a ‘strategic lawsuit against public participation’”. Anti-Slapp mechanisms are usually designed to counter the effects of rich individuals and corporations from seeking to use the defamation laws to intimidate the media and others.

Asked if the new measure might also encompass politicians and political parties, Ms McEntee said it was not specific to just big business.

“Obviously the more visible examples we have found in recent years are larger companies trying to prevent certain types of investigative journalism going ahead, but that is not to say it would not apply to particular individuals or to political parties either,” she said.

‘Almost strategic’

Earlier, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar claimed he was aware of Fine Gael politicians who had received legal letters from Sinn Féin and suggested that the party’s use of these “seems almost strategic”.

Mr Varadkar did not name the party representatives alleged to have received the letters, nor did he offer details of what the correspondence was about. He said it is “up to them to say whether they want to name themselves or not”.

He questioned if Sinn Féin politicians were being encouraged to take legal actions and if they paid their own costs in such cases.

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said the party does “not fund such cases” and pointed out that Fine Gael representatives have taken legal actions previously.

“Legal actions are funded by those who have no option but to vindicate their good names in the face of false accusations made by others,” the party said in a statement.

“Is the Fine Gael leader suggesting it should be okay for people to tell lies about members of Sinn Féin? Well it’s not.

“The right to vindicate one’s good name has no impact on the cut and thrust of political debate, as can be seen in the Dáil, in council chambers and in media debates on a daily basis.”