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In judicial review proceedings in the High Court, a political party (Green Party) challenged the exclusion of its leader from a televised party leaders’ debate by public service broadcaster RTÉ. The applicant (a trustee of the Green Party), sought a declaration that the criteria operated by RTÉ, and in particular the requirement that a party have “at least three sitting members” in the outgoing Dáil Éireann (lower house of Irish parliament) before the leader of that party be invited to participate in the leaders’ debate was unfair, undemocratic and unconstitutional and in breach of RTÉ’s statutory...

On 8 February 2016, the High Court delivered its judgment in Philpott v. Irish Examiner Limited, concerning (a) the circumstances where a court will order the media to cease further publication of a defamatory statement, and (b) the defence of absolute privilege for “fair and accurate“ court reporting. The case arose following publication of two articles by the Irish Examiner newspaper in 2015, headlined “Former CEO loses case against hospice,” and “Ex-Marymount Hospice executive’s legal case resolved.” Both articles reported on a court action taken by a hospital official against his employer,...

The Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) has published its new report Parental Attitudes (Post Primary) 2015. The report examines film classification and the views of parents of adolescent children, and forms part of earlier studies which examined similar issues relating to parents of primary school children, and adolescents themselves (see IRIS 2005-4/22 and IRIS 2004-9/27). The 16-page report is divided into two main sections, detailing, first, parental awareness of IFCO’s functions, and second, parental attitudes to the current classification system. The key findings include that the “vast...

On 19 January 2016, the Minister for Justice and Equality announced the establishment of an independent review of the law on access to the phone records of journalists. The review will be carried out by a former Chief Justice, the retired Mr. Justice John Murray, who is also a former judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The purpose of the Murray Review will be to “examine the legislative framework in respect of access by statutory bodies to communications data of journalists held by communications service providers.” This will include taking account of “the principle of protection...

In a majority decision, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has held that there is no automatic requirement for a broadcaster to challenge the views of a contributor on a current affairs topic. The decision arose following a complaint to the BAI concerning a 30-minute interview with an elected public official on the issue of abortion (for previous decisions, see IRIS 2016-2/14 and IRIS 2014-2/23). The complaint concerned an August 2015 edition of The Ray D’Arcy Show, which is a lifestyle and entertainment programme, broadcast weekday afternoons on the public broadcaster channel RTÉ Radio...