Minister for Justice and Law Reform Brian Lenihan has confirmed he intends to press ahead with the Defamation Bill to reform libel law, but he is willing to park the Privacy Bill while he assesses how the new Press Council operates.
"In relation to the Privacy Bill, I would be prepared to give media organisations some time to show that the Press Council can work and demonstrate its effectiveness," he said last night on RTÉ's The Week in Politics.
"What a lot of people want - and this is not just about public figures, this is about private reputations as well - everyone wants to see justice done speedily. Telling someone they have a libel action in seven years' time isn't of much value to a person who has been seriously defamed and wronged in the eyes of the community."
Mr Lenihan said he intended to press ahead with the Defamation Bill. "It is time to enact definitive legislation that will strike the balance between the protection of reputation, which is an absolute, and the other absolute, freedom of expression in a free society. We have to draw the line right on this."
Mr Lenihan also acknowledged the tensions between politicians and the media: "the media are always very wary about politicians and very watchful of them so it's hardly surprising that politicians are watchful of the media. A free press and freedom of expression are very important in every society but so is the individual's right to a reputation."
However, on the same programme Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said he was one of the ministers in the previous government who wanted to link the defamation and privacy laws.
"I was very much in favour of that, yes, because I believe that, while the public might not have engaged with this, they understand themselves that it's their privacy; it's not just politicians, it's not just public figures only," he said.
"The general view of the cabinet was that it should be linked with the Privacy Bill in order to provide a balance as Brian Lenihan has said, but we will allow the debate to continue."
He added that he was always suspicious of self-regulation and said the Julia Kushnir libel case would be a test for the Press Council. It will be interesting to see how the council responds to the significant issues arising from that case, he said.
Also on the programme, Fine Gael's Dr James Reilly said the Privacy Bill proposed by the previous government was too restrictive. "It looked to many people to be a way for ministers to protect themselves from criticism. God knows this is a time when we need less censorship, not more."
