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On 1 September 2015, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) held, by a majority, that showing a model of an erect penis having a condom put on it did not violate broadcasting rules on offence, harm, or the protection of children. The decision arose following a complaint made about an "Ireland AM" programme broadcast by TV3. Ireland AM is a morning programme with a range of content, broadcast between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and during a discussion on contraception, a model of an erect penis was shown having a condom put onto it. The complainant claimed that “this type of material is completely...

On 6 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its judgment in Case C-362/14, Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner, which was a preliminary reference from an Irish court asking whether: (a) national data protection authorities are absolutely bound by a European Commission decision, where an individual claims their personal data is being transferred to a country where there are inadequate laws on data protection, and (b) should a national data protection authority conduct its own review in light of factual developments since a Commission decision was first taken. The...

On 29 July 2015, the Court of Appeal ordered the airline company Ryanair to disclose its fuel policy between 2010 and 2012 to the broadcaster Channel Four Television Corporation, in a pre-trial hearing in Ryanair’s defamation proceedings against the broadcaster. The case arose following an August 2013 edition of Channel 4’s investigative programme Dispatches, which “was to the effect Ryanair had endangered passenger safety by operating a low-fuel policy and by pressuring its pilots to take as little fuel as possible”. The airline issued defamation proceedings over the broadcast, and the broadcaster...

The executive complaints forum of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has rejected a complaint against the broadcaster TV3 that a comedian’s joke referring to Jesus was offensive and disrespectful to Christian beliefs. A complaint had been made over the December 2014 broadcast of the comedian Tommy Tiernan’s Crooked Man programme by TV3, when the comedian stated “On St Patrick’s Day, Jesus himself comes out of the desert, ‘mother of fuck… any chance of a pint is there. The Devil is driving me demented. Question after fucking question. Pint of Guinness please Seamus, thanks. What’s that?...

The compliance committee of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has held that the broadcaster 98FM violated a number of broadcasting rules during a live phone-in programme on the issue of minors sending inappropriate pictures of themselves. A complaint had been made by the mother of a 13-year-old girl over an April 2014 broadcast of 98FM’s phone-in programme Dublin Talks. The complainant claimed that her daughter’s participation in the programme breached the broadcasting act’s rules on harm and offence, and the broadcasting code’s rules on harm and privacy. The Dublin Talks programme featured...