Defamation: Recent Judgments Considering The Section 26 Public Interest Defence

The defence of "fair and reasonable publication in the public interest" to a defamation action has recently been considered by the Irish courts. This defence was put on a statutory footing in Section 26 of the Defamation Act 2009 (the "Act").¹

The interim judgment of Mr Justice Owens in Dermot Desmond v The Irish Times Limited² considered whether expert evidence was admissible to demonstrate that the publication in question was in "the public interest", for the purposes of establishing the defence of fair and reasonable publication in the public interest. Another recent judgment of the Court of Appeal, Bird v Iconic Newspapers Ltd³ assessed the application of the Section 26 defence in obiter comments. These judgments are of interest in the context of proposed reforms to the Act (discussed below) and the relative dearth of Irish authorities considering the application of the Section 26 defence to date.