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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 It states that the identity of applicants for asylum must not be published in a written publication or broadcast without the consent of both the applicant and the Minister for Justice.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...

The Supreme Court rejected on 2 February 2001 an appeal against a High Court decision on the awarding of a broadcast licence. The High Court had upheld the decision of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) to award a Dublin "youth" radio licence to a consortium called "Spin FM". A rival consortium, "Storm FM" had claimed that there was objective bias against it on the part of a member of the IRTC. The IRTC member had made inquiries to the garda (police) regarding reports of drug abuse in a nightclub owned by a member of the "Storm FM" consortium. The garda responded that they endorsed...

The Broadcasting Bill 1999 was passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas (Parliament) and signed into law on 14 March 2001. It paves the way for digital broadcasting. It makes provision in Part II for the supply of programme material, including transmission by digital means, and for the establishment of a transmission company (s.5) and a multiplex company (s.8). It also covers digital content contracts (s.12) and electronic programme guides (s.16). Part III deals with standards in broadcasting. The Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC), established by statute in 1988 to regulate the...

On 23 March, a High Court jury in Dublin resolved a libel action in favour of RTE, the national public service broadcasting station. The station had been sued by a well-known politician, Beverly Cooper-Flynn. The case arose from RTE news broadcasts in June-July 1998. The politician, a former bank official, claimed that the news items meant that she had instigated a tax evasion scheme. The jury decided that RTE had not proved that she had induced the third-named defendant to evade tax. They also found, however, that RTE had proved that she had advised or encouraged a number of other persons to evade...