Following the recent general election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the two main parties likely to lead the next government, have published an agreed draft Programme for Government (here, and here (pdf)). It pledges to “tackle the practice of ‘retail defamation'” (p122), and to

Restore the Defamation Bill 2024 to the order paper and make passing the legislation a priority. (p122)

This is welcome, but hardly surprising. Each of these parties had made similar promises in their general election manifestos. Fianna Fáil (pdf) promised to

• Address shoplifting, by providing retailers with a statutory defence in cases where shoppers claim they have been defamed when asked whether they have paid for a product and/or for proof of purchase [p18]; and
• Restore the Defamation Bill to the Order paper at its current advanced stage, maintain its
  current approach and implement it within three months [p116].

And Fine Gael (pdf) promised to

• Enact the Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024:
  This legislation will reform and modernise defamation laws, including a new statutory defence for ‘retail defamation’ cases to address the rise in claims made against retail businesses [p64].
• Enact the Defamation Bill within 100 days:
  Pass the Defamation Bill to balance freedom of expression with protections for individuals’
  good name and reputation. This will include safeguards against SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuits
  against public participation) to prevent misuse of defamation laws to stifle public interest reporting [p50].

So far so good. This must not have been a difficult issue in the parties’ negotiations for the Programme for Government. But, in its implementation, much will hinge on the Minister for Justice who will have carriage of the Bill. It looks likely that the current Minister will move to another department, so the question arises as to who will succeed her. On the Second Stage of the Defamation (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the Dáil (noted here), the Bill was introduced and defended by James Browne, Minister of State in the Department of Justice. If he is promoted, as is speculated, there is likely to be no change of course.

However, if, as is also speculated, the brief goes to his party colleague Jim O’Callaghan, then there may be some amendments. For example, on the one hand, in that debate, he characterised the decision to abolish juries in the High Court as “short-sighted”, and he bemoaned the absence from the Bill of anything to hold social media companies to account. On the other hand, he seemed to welcome the anti-SLAPP provisions, and he noted in particular a recent significant increase in the frequency of politicians instituting defamation proceedings. However, O’Callaghan is now being described as a “long shot”. At least on this issue, his appointment would be inconsistent with the Fianna Fáil manifesto promise to “maintain” the “current approach” to the Bill; on the other hand, the absence of such an explicit undertaking in the draft Programme for Government certainly leaves the door open to his appointment.

It is also being speculated that Darragh O’Brien, James Lawless and Thomas Byrne are all in the mix for the Justice portfolio – but, so far as I am aware, none of these three has said anything much about the Bill at all, so there are no runes to attempt to read there.

One thing is certain: whoever is Minister, defamation reform is getting closer – though perhaps not within the three months promised by Fianna Fáil or the 100 days promised by the Fine Gael. After all, on the principle that what’s unsaid is often at least as important as what is said, there is no time commitment in the draft Programme for Government other than the politically expedient if disappointingly vague commitment to making the passage of the legislation “a priority”.