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In May 2001, the Director of Telecommunications Regulation issued new regulations that provide for the extension of deflector licences beyond their original expiry date of 31 December 2001. The licences had been issued in April 2000, as a short-term measure (see IRIS 1997-7: 9 and IRIS 2000-5: 15), while preparations were being made for the introduction of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT). At present, there are 31 deflector licences in force. In many rural parts of Ireland deflector services provide the only means of access to multichannel television services broadcast from the U.K. and prior...

A man who made a hoax telephone call to a national radio show on 31 August 2000 was pursued under post office legislation, rather than broadcasting legislation. Irish broadcasting legislation contains numerous provisions concerned with programme content but is aimed at the obligations and responsibilities of broadcasters rather than individual callers. The man telephoned an RTE (the national public service broadcaster) radio chat show, claiming to be the well-known captain of the Galway county hurling team and to be representing his own views and those of the team members. Hurling is a popular...

The Information Society Commission was established by the Irish Government in 1997 to monitor Ireland's progress as an Information Society, to promote awareness of new technology and to advise the government on Ireland's development in this area. Its third and most recent report, compiled in December 2000, assessed Ireland's current position and made recommendations for future development. The Commission highlighted what had been achieved during the three-year period, including: the liberalisation of the telecommunications market, the enactment of the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 (IRIS 2000-8:...

Section 19.2 of the Refugee Act 1996 came into force in November 2000. It states that the identity of applicants for asylum must not be published in a written publication or broadcast without the consent of both the applicant and the Minister for Justice. A "written publication" is stated to include a film, sound track and any other record in permanent form. Breach of the section is an offence punishable by a fine not exceeding IEP 1,500 and/or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months. The National Union of Journalists criticised the section as a restriction on the freedom of expression...

Criminal prosecutions for libel are very rare in Ireland (see IRIS 2000-2: 14). However, on March 27, a businessman was convicted of libelling a business competitor on the Internet. He had placed a notice on the Internet indicating that she was providing prostitution services. Following conviction, the defendant offered to pay IEP 10,000 compensation to the victim. The judge, however, deemed it insufficient. In a civil action she would probably be awarded a much higher sum. Sentence will be passed in the coming weeks. The Defamation Act 1961, which contains provisions on criminal libel, provides...