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Report paves way for reform of Northern Ireland's libel laws

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt hopes the north's libel laws should be reformed. Picture by Colm Lenaghan, Pacemaker
Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt hopes the north's libel laws should be reformed. Picture by Colm Lenaghan, Pacemaker Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt hopes the north's libel laws should be reformed. Picture by Colm Lenaghan, Pacemaker

A REPORT into Stormont's decision to reject reforms in libel law has recommended that the DUP-led opt out be overturned.

Dr Andrew Scott's Review of the Law of Defamation was ordered nearly two years ago by the then Finance Minister Simon Hamilton.

The DUP minister commissioned the report after Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt announced he planned to introduce a private members bill that aimed to bring the north's defamation laws into line with those in Britain.

Westminster updated its libel laws in 2013 but Mr Hamilton's predecessor Sammy Wilson chose not to introduce the reforms.

The move created the potential for 'libel tourism', where people who believed they had been defamed would seek to have the cases heard in Northern Ireland where the law differs.

Last year Sky Atlantic temporarily pulled broadcast of Going Clear, an acclaimed Hollywood film about Scientology, across the entire UK over fears it could be subject to libel action at the High Court in Belfast.

Dr Scott's report says there is no requirement in either international or domestic human rights law to amend Stormont's libel laws. However, he has provided two draft bills – one which replicates Westminster's 2013 act and one which augments the act's provisions.

The report was welcomed by Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, who last week The Irish News reported had been reappointed as director of a Belfast newspaper business only a fortnight after resigning. The press release from the Department of Finance noted that Mr Ó Muilleoir's interests in the media sector are included in the assembly's register of interests.

Mr Nesbitt said initiating the reforms was down to the minister.

"I am glad that almost two years after first ordering the review, the report has now been published and that it strongly recommends that many of the measures in the Defamation Act should be emulated here in Northern Ireland," the UUP leader said.

Claire Hanna, the vice-chairman of Stormont's finance committee said the north's "antiquated libel laws" were in urgent need of reform.

"The current approach allows those who can afford it to quash genuine public interest journalism and the pursuit of academic progress," she said.

"We cannot become a legal back channel to hide the dirty linen of the wealthy or the privileged."