The Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, which made a number of changes including the removal of the presumption in favour of trial by jury, requires the Department of Finance to carry out a review of defamation law and report to the Northern Ireland Assembly by June 2024.

The Department said work on this review “has been ongoing for several months and has included analysis of commentary on the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, the wider, global debate on defamation law and relevant legislative initiatives in other jurisdictions”.

It said it now wishes to engage with “key local stakeholders, primarily to gauge views on how the Act has changed defamation law and practice in this jurisdiction and also to obtain their opinion on other aspects of defamation law that were raised during the debate on the Act last year”.

Views can be shared through the Department website until 26 January 2024.