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The Radio and Television Act 1988 (section 10 subsection 3) prohibits advertisements directed towards any religious or political end, or related to an industrial dispute. In a recent decision, the Irish High Court upheld the refusal of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) to permit a number of independent radio stations to broadcast an advertisement by "Youth Defence". "Youth Defence" is an organisation which tries to inform the public concerning issues about abortion and to ensure the protection of the unborn child. (The life of the unborn child is constitutionally protected...

In common with other jurisdictions, video piracy is a major problem in Ireland. Although a major review of the legislation is underway - in particular, the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 1998 provides for an increase in the penalties allowable for copyright piracy from £1000 to £100,000 or five years in prison - this area is still governed in Ireland by the Copyright Act 1963. A recent Irish High Court case examined the question of whether a videotape is a cinematographic film for the purposes of copyright. The judgement goes some way towards improving the copyright protection which subsists in cinematographic...

In a recent application for judicial review, the Irish Supreme Court confirmed a High Court ruling regarding the broadcasting of a religious advertisement ( See IRIS 1998-1: 6). The High Court had upheld the refusal of the Independent Radio and Television Commission to permit an independent radio station to broadcast an advertisement for the showing of a video on a religious topic. Section 10 subsection 3 of the Radio and Television Act 1988, prohibits advertisements directed towards any religious or political end, or related to an industrial dispute. The appellant submitted that the subsection...

In April the High Court in Dublin decided a case concerning radio and television broadcasts in relation to constitutional referendums. Under the Irish Constitution, there must be a referendum before any amendment to the Constitution can be made. In 1995 a referendum to remove the constitutional ban on divorce gave rise to much litigation regarding the conduct of referendum campaigns. Just before the referendum, the Supreme Court held that the government had acted unconstitutionally inter alia by offending the constitutional guarantee of equality- in spending public money on a one-sided information...

In April, the Irish Supreme Court decided in favour of the national broadcaster, RTE, and a number of newspaper publishers, in an appeal taken by them against the decision of a judge in Cork in early 1997 to ban contemporaneous reporting of a drugs trial. The trial concerned four non-nationals charged in connection with the seizure of £47 million of cocaine. The media first sought judicial review in the High Court (The Irish Times Ltd, Examiner Publications (Cork) Ltd. Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd, News Group Newspapers Ltd and Radio Telefis Eireann v Ireland, the Attorney General and His...