The ICCL has noted that Mr Justice Donald Binchy has today (2 June 2015) confirmed that it was never the intention of his High Court order on 21 May 2015 in Denis O'Brien's application against RTÉ to restrict utterances in the Dáil or the reporting of them.

The rights watchdog has welcomed this clear judicial restatement of the principle that reporting of Dáil statements enjoys the protection of Article 15 of the Constitution. However, it added that it was "perplexed" that legal advice provided to broadcasters and newspapers could ever have led them to believe otherwise.

ICCL Executive Director Mr Mark Kelly said:

"Our Constitution protects Dáil speech and permits untrammelled reporting of that speech. The ICCL welcomes the restatement of these principles in the High Court today, but remains perplexed that legal advice could ever have led broadcasters and newspaper editors to believe otherwise. It is a fundamental principle of Parliamentary democracy that the law must not be used to muzzle parliamentarians pursuing matters of public interest in good faith. The ICCL trusts that, in future, journalists and editors will display the necessary courage of their convictions to defend that principle".

ENDS

Contact:

Walter Jayawardene, ICCL Communications Manager

walter.jayawardene@iccl.ie

087 9981574