Seanad Report:It was disturbing that there had been no recognition by the National Union of Journalists nor by the newspapers concerned of the huge hurt that had been caused to the wife and family of the late Liam Lawlor by reports concerning his tragic death, Denis O'Donovan (FF) said.
The sequence of events that had led to a Ukrainian lady deservedly receiving substantial damages in the courts should be considered when the Defamation Bill came to be debated, he added.
The allegation that Mr Lawlor had been with a prostitute when he died was shameful and damaging. "I would urge that maybe the papers concerned would have the courtesy and the dignity to apologise to the widow of the late Liam Lawlor and to the family for the severe hurt she must have found herself in in that situation."
Ronan Mullen (Ind) said there was a need for the Seanad to appraise the precise balance that had to be struck between "our much cherished principle of freedom of the press and the need to bring about a greater culture of responsibility among media practitioners in this country". Perhaps it was time, he said, to consider compensatory mechanisms when the press stepped out of line and caused hurt to innocent parties.
Jim Walsh (FF) said he found it alarming that the press would seek to impose a veto on the introduction of the Privacy Bill. That was a significant factor that all members should consider.
Geraldine Feeney (FF) said that perhaps they should look at regulating the press in the same way that the legal and the medical professions were regulated. "In my opinion, they do as much damage to peoples' lives as some of the medical or the legal profession."
Those professions had fitness to practise requirements and codes of conduct to which members had to adhere. Continuous breaches led to suspension or to erasure from the register.
Labhrás Ó Murchú (FF) said it was very encouraging to hear many Senators calling for greater responsibility and accountability on the part of certain sections of the media. "I think there was a tendency in the past to remain silent, lest we might suffer the ire of the media for criticising them."
David Norris (Ind) said the problem in relation to having a meaningful debate was that the Bill was to be reintroduced at committee stage.
Shane Ross (Ind) said Ms Feeney was addressing the very delicate balance between freedom of the press and the privacy of the individual, with which they had tried to grapple in the last Seanad. The intrusion into people's privacy by the press was something they all abhorred.
But they should make absolutely certain, if they were talking about regulation, that they were not speaking about control, which was obviously offensive to that freedom.
Acting Seanad leader Dan Boyle (GP) said he thought they should acknowledge the appointment of the Press Ombudsman operating through the Press Council that the media organisations had established, and the fact that the individual in question was a former member of the House and a distinguished commentator on media affairs.
That might help in the short term to avoid reoccurrence of situations such as had been seen and ensure that if they did happen again they would be responded to in a better way for all who were affected by such defamations.
Oireachtas members had been treated to a charade by the chief executive of the HSE, Prof Drumm, yesterday, Jerry Buttimer (FG) said. "I use that word deliberately, because it was like being in spin city." Elected members were worthy of answers and deserving of information, which they were not getting. It was high time there was political accountability by a Government which seemed to have abdicated responsibility.
Alex White (Lab) described the meeting with Prof Drumm as something of an extraordinary spectacle in a modern democracy. There was a "lack of fit" between politicians and the providers of these crucial services. Political accountability had been taken out of it deliberately in order to provide an alibi for the Government in relation to these issues. But it was the Government's problem and they could not walk away from it.
Joe O'Toole (Ind) said the best way to begin a debate on health service issues was by having a fresh look at the legislation that had set up the HSE.