An international body representing journalists has called for proposed Irish privacy legislation to be scrapped.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional European group, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today called on the Government to abandon plans for a draconian privacy law due to come before parliament this autumn.
On the eve of a major conference by the National Union of Journalist (NUJ), Aidan White, General Secretary of the IFJ, called on Minister Justice Michael McDowell to engage in discussions with the NUJ, and with editors and proprietors, rather than enforce legislation which media lawyers say will prevent Irish journalists from doing their job.
The IFJ says newspapers and broadcasters will find themselves embedding lawyers into their newsrooms to fight off privacy injunctions.
Séamus Dooley, Irish Secretary of the NUJ, says the union has commissioned eminent media lawyer Andrea Martin to analyze the bill.
Ms Martin's finding to the Dublin conference tomorrow raise concerns about a number of provisions in the bill, including the proposed sweeping power to grant injunctions, a ban on the use of information gained from public records and a provision whereby a range of court hearings may be heard in private.
Ms Martin has concluded that "the bill has the potential to stifle legitimate journalistic investigation on matters of public interest".