Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation Bill 2026: Second Stage Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29 ============================================================ Mark Ward (SF), Dublin Mid-West I thank the Minister of State. Sinn Féin welcomes legislation that will provide greater protections against strategic lawsuits against public participation, SLAPPs. The judicial system is a foundational pillar of the State and society. As with any such pillar, that there is faith and confidence in its fairness as to how it operates, but also that it operates consistently and without favour, is of paramount importance. There is much we can and should do to support such faith. One such area is access to justice. Sinn Féin has brought forward proposals in this regard in relation to jury service and other areas. We welcome the Ministers' and Government's constructive engagement on this. Of course, another such area is the right to legal counsel and while I will not dwell on it today, I appeal to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to engage in mediation in good faith with the Law Society to address that crisis, the outworkings of which I do not believe we have even begun to see. The other side of access to justice as it relates to fairness and this Bill is that some large entities or even individuals have, in effect, endless resources in comparison with others and for some time, this has allowed them greater access to the justice system and to abuse the justice system and silence political opponents, environmental or human rights activists and others. Sinn Féin welcomes this legislation, which will provide new protections against SLAPPs across commercial and civil law while enhancing those recently passed by the Oireachtas. People should be clear as to what a SLAPP is, or rather what it is not. It is not when elected representatives defend their good name from spurious attacks. Everybody should have that right. In particular, we welcome the provisions of this Bill that will facilitate third-party interventions in cases by human rights bodies and others with relevant expertise. However, if we expect organisations to assist in safeguarding rights for targets of SLAPPs, we must recognise that we are asking such organisations to involve themselves in cases in the public interest and at their own expense. The Minister of State might consider such in terms of future funding needs of any such body or maybe she can clarify whether, in such a case, third-party costs would also be covered by the guarantees contained in the Bill. We also welcome further provisions such as those ensuring that defendants may seek that a plaintiff provide security for their costs or any potential damages if the court is satisfied that they can justifiably argue that SLAPP provisions may apply; allowing for defendants to seek early dismissal should a case be manifestly unfounded; and providing for allowance in relation to damages for abusive proceedings. In particular, we welcome the provision whereby Irish courts will not recognise or enforce judgments that are initiated in a third, or non-EU, country that are considered by courts to be SLAPPs, and whereby Irish residents can apply to Irish courts for a declaration of such a case to be a SLAPP when such a case originates in a third country. However, this does call to mind issues raised during the consideration of the criminal justice Act 2026 in terms of co-operation with the judicial systems of other European Union member states. Where are the protections in cases wherein there are fears as to the independence of the judicial systems of European member states that may be experiencing democratic backsliding and whose governments have attacked the independence of their domestic courts? The approach of the Bill includes repealing a not-insignificant portion of the defamation Bill 2026, passed by the Oireachtas earlier this year, but then goes on to reintroduce it largely verbatim, albeit with additionality. It would be beneficial if the Minister of State could explain in her closing remarks the reasoning for the approach. Why was this additionality not simply considered as part of the previous Bill? Why take the legislative approach within this Bill of repealing what the Government only a few lines later relegislated for? Therefore, in advance of Committee Stage, for the benefit of members of the Oireachtas justice committee, of whom I am one, I ask that the Minister of State direct officials to provide the committee with a detailed briefing note outlining the changes contained therein. As we discuss access to justice and its relation to SLAPPs, I ask the Minister of State to reflect on the Government's own approach to litigation. A SLAPP can take the form of a case being taken that an individual or entity plaintiff has little intention of seeing through or winning on the merits of the sole basis that they are confident their financial means greatly exceed those of the campaigner or activist defendant they have taken a case against. In spirit and in principle, what is the difference between a SLAPP and the manner in which the Government defends cases taken by children seeking to vindicate their right to an assessment of need? I raised this with the Minister with responsibility for disability only the other day. A total of €7.2 million has been spent by the Government over the last four years to defend itself in cases against families who were just trying to access their rights to an assessment of need. These are rights in respect of which, under this Bill, the Government has broken the law. It wears families down and can financially exhaust them. It sends a message to the vast majority of parents that they will never be able to outspend the Irish Government. It may be worth examining whether this legislation can be amended to ensure that once we have pinned down and insofar as possible eradicated the scourge of SLAPPS, it will not be the case that the only SLAPP left is the slap in the face and wallet Irish families receive when they dare to call out the Irish Government on its failures. In conclusion, Sinn Féin welcomes this Bill. We will be supporting its passage through Second Stage and look forward to working constructively with the Minister of State as to how it may be improved on even further, providing greater and even more enhanced and widespread protections. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-29