Defamation

Former presidential candidate Peter Casey has been awarded €140,000 in damages after he was defamed on Facebook by an anti-immigration activist. Kim McMenamin made "defamatory and malicious remarks" about Mr Casey's efforts to provide accommodation in Buncrana, Co Donegal for refugees fleeing t

Disney is facing legal proceedings in connection with a TV series which depicts the 1972 murder of Jean McConville. Belfast firm Phoenix Law is acting for prominent Irish republican Marian Price, who is depicted shooting Ms McConville in Say Nothing, a historical drama produced by FX and released la

Tim Carson places the statutory review of the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 in context. Midway through the Long Vacation, the Northern Ireland Department of Finance quietly published its statutorily mandated Report on the Review of the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022.

Gateley Legal NI legal director Jonathan Jackson discusses the key insights of a review of Northern Ireland's defamation laws. Published earlier this summer, the Department of Finance’s review of the Defamation Act (NI) 2022 analyses the 2022 Act’s implementation to date and identifies c

Landmark legislation abolishing juries in High Court defamation cases and introducing measures to tackle so-called SLAPPs will be published next week. The Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024 will make the most significant reforms to Irish defamation law in 15 years, following a public consultation on r

Business lobby groups have met with a junior minister in the Department of Justice to set out their call for a €75,000 cap on defamation awards. A delegation from ISME, which represents small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the Convenience Stores & Newsagents Association (CSNA) met with

The Court of Appeal has determined that Iconic Newspapers Ltd could not rely on the defence of qualified privilege in respect of a publication which erroneously stated that the respondent featured on Revenue’s ‘tax defaulters list’. Delivering judgment for the Court of Appeal, Mr J

Northern Ireland's High Court has dismissed a "scandalous, frivolous and vexatious" defamation claim brought against Belfast journalist and author Malachi O'Doherty by Sinn Féin politician Gerry Kelly. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) welcomed yesterday's decision as "extremely signifi

Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill has reached a settlement in a libel action against DUP MP Sammy Wilson. Pádraig Ó Muirigh, director of Ó Muirigh Solicitors, said: "The objective all along in this legal action was to correct the public record in relation to the date of knowle

Northern Ireland lawyers and other stakeholders have been invited to share their views on defamation law to inform an ongoing review. 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 Departmen

Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews has launched defamation proceedings against The Irish Times and an individual journalist in connection with an article about his party's response to the war in Gaza. The lawsuit concerns an article by Harry McGee headlined Spotlight on Sinn Féin over its stan

An "offensive and misogynistic" social media post about Sinn Féin's northern leader and first minister-designate Michelle O'Neill was not defamatory and the case "ought never have been brought", Northern Ireland's High Court has ruled.

Northern Ireland's High Court has dismissed an action brought by a solicitor who alleged that complaints made about him to the Law Society of Northern Ireland (LSNI) were defamatory. Delivering the judgment, Danny Friedman KC, sitting as a High Court judge, noted the complaints were worthy of absolu

A task force organised by UK culture secretary Lucy Frazer will meet today to address the growing concern of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) aimed at curbing the freedom of the press. These vexatious actions, often launched by affluent individuals such as Russian oligarchs,

Taxi drivers are set to take legal action after delegates at a Belfast conference were told to avoid black cabs "because they are run by the IRA". The claim was made in a security document sent to delegates attending the 2023 CYBERUK conference organised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC),