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IRIS 2019-1:1/25 [IE] Referendum removes blasphemy from Irish Constitution  

On 26 October 2018, a referendum was held in Ireland on whether the offence of blasphemy should be removed from the Bunreacht na hÉireann (Irish Constitution); 65% voted in favour and 35% voted against. As a result, Article 40.6.1 of the Irish Constitution no longer provides that the publication or utterance of blasphemous matter is an offence which shall be punishable by law. Following the referendum, the Irish Minister for Justice and Equality commented that the Irish people had sent a “message to the world - a strong message that laws against blasphemy do not reflect Irish values and that we...

IRIS 2018-10:1/18 [IE] Updated guidelines on election coverage

On 20 September 2018, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) published updated Guidelines for Coverage of General, Presidential, Seanad (Senate), Local and European Elections (for previous guidelines, see IRIS 2016-1/19 and IRIS 2014-5/23). The purpose of the Guidelines is to set out requirements for broadcasters in terms of their coverage of elections, and to provide guidance on how fairness, objectivity and impartiality may be achieved. The Guidelines were published in advance of the Irish presidential election in late October 2018, and upcoming local and European Parliament elections in...

IRIS 2018-9:1/25 [IE] Jury determines public broadcaster 35% liable for defamatory comments made during programme

On 21 June 2018, the important High Court judgment in Kehoe v. RTÉ was published, which held that a jury in a defamation trial may apportion liability between a broadcaster and a programme contributor, even where the contributor is not a party to the case.   The case concerned Nicky Kehoe, a member of the Irish political party Sinn Féin, and a former elected local official. The case centred on an October 2015 edition of the current affairs programme ‘Saturday with Claire Byrne’ broadcast live by the public broadcaster RTÉ. The edition at issue featured the presenter and two contributors, namely...

IRIS 2018-8:1/32 [IE] Decision on public broadcaster’s impartiality

On 27 June 2018, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) issued a notable decision on a public broadcaster’s compliance with impartiality rules in its coverage of the possible imminent resignation of a government minister. By a majority, the BAI Executive Complaints Forum found that the RTÉ current affairs programme, where the minister in fact resigned the following day, had not infringed requirements of the Broadcasting Act 2009 nor the BAI Code of Fairness, Objectivity and Impartiality in News and Current Affairs. The decision concerned Claire Byrne Live, a well-known current affairs programme...

IRIS 2018-8:1/31 [IE] Data Protection Act 2018 enacted  

On 24 May 2018, the Data Protection Act 2018 was enacted following publication of the Data Protection Bill in February 2018 (see IRIS 2018-3/21) and the General Scheme of the Bill in May 2017 (see IRIS 2017-7/22). The purpose of the 2018 Act is to give further effect to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) (GDPR), which became applicable in all member states on 25 May 2018 (see IRIS 2018-6/7). While the GDPR is directly applicable, a number of its provisions require member states to enact domestic legislation, and 25 May 2018 was also the deadline for member states...