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The Irish Supreme Court, in an important decision for the media and for investigative journalism, recently (NIB v. RTE - Supreme Court, 20 March 1998) lifted an injunction against RTE, the national public service broadcaster. In January, RTE had broadcast a news story to the effect that National Irish Bank (NIB) had operated offshore accounts designed to facilitate customers in evading tax. The Bank claimed that RTE's reports were ill-informed and that publication of the information would damage the relationship of trust and confidence between the Bank and its customers and damage irreparably the...

In 1997, the Irish High Court gave judgment on a preliminary issue of jurisdiction in relation to three actions in which the plaintiffs claimed damages, including aggravated and exemplary damages, arising out of a television documentary made by Carlton Television and distributed by Ulster Television (Ewins v Carlton [1997] 2 ILRM 223). The documentary concerned the activities and experiences of a member of the Provisional IRA, an unlawful organisation. Carlton broadcast only in mainland Britain but supplied the programme to other companies, including Ulster Television, which, simultaneously with...

Ireland is a dualist country in the sense that the European Convention on Human Rights has not been incorporated into domestic law. However, in a judgment which is indicative of the increasing willingness of the Irish courts to take account of the Convention, the High Court in April 1997 ([1997] 2 ILRM 467) considered a ban on broadcast advertising in the light of Article 10 and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. The advertisement in question asked "What think ye of Christ?" and went on to announce the forthcoming Easter Week showing, and satellite transmission, of a video...

In April 1997, a new Freedom of Information Act was passed in Ireland, following several years of campaigning by various individuals and organisations, including the Let in the Light group, headed mainly by print and audio-visual journalists and academics. The new Act signals a first and major step towards changing the culture of secrecy within government and the public service to one of openness. Its aim is to provide effective, low-cost access to government-held information to media and public alike. Some of the more salient provisions of the Act include the appointment of an Information Commissioner....

After several decades in which the national broadcaster, RTE, enjoyed a monopoly of the airwaves and up to 80-90 unlicensed "pirate" radio stations played cat-and-mouse with the law, a system for licensed commercial broadcasting was finally introduced in Ireland in 1988 under the Radio and Television Act of that year. The Act established the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC), which was to enter into contracts for the provision of independent private commercial radio and television broadcasting on a national and local level, as well as community and special interest broadcasting...