Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Paul Nicholas Gogarty (IND), Dublin Mid-West

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo. Is ceann an-tábhachtach atá ann. I welcome the Bill. It is important legislation that facilitates legitimate criticism of institutions and corporate interests. If it is done right, it balances the fear of legal threats and, on the other side, vexatious or potentially defamatory statements. We have heard that this Bill is a direct and necessary response to EU Directive 2024/1069, the anti-SLAPP directive. To be a little bit facetious, it is taking its time. The EU has had to give Ireland a little slap on the wrist to get the legislation moving. Throughout Europe, including here in Ireland, we have been very slow in implementing legislation to protect people. We have seen a disturbing rise in powerful corporations and wealthy individuals basically weaponising our legal system. They are not doing this for justice. Sometimes they are not even doing it to protect their good name but rather to chill debate and discourse and silence those who are speaking truth to power, especially investigative journalists, environmental activists, community groups and individuals who have legitimate concerns. This Bill, in the rightful way, targets those who threaten public interest advocates with some form of financial ruin. Looking at it from a non-expert point of view, it provides a good level of protection, for example offering early dismissal of groundless claims, moving the burden of proof back onto wealthy plaintiffs and forcing litigants to post security for costs.
However, the small person, such as a local campaigner, blogger or small community group, still has barriers because within the Irish defamation framework, groups such as the Law Society of Ireland say that we still lack a serious harm test. Damage to reputation is legally presumed here from day one. Plaintiffs can launch lawsuits without ever having to prove an actual or tangible financial loss, which means they can still - the Minister of State is going to elucidate on this later - intimidate defendants to some degree. We need more clarity on this. As my colleagues in the House have said, we possibly need related amendments on Committee Stage. Another angle is that if a defendant wants to get a case thrown out early, as Deputy Tóibín mentioned, he or she has to prove that a claim is manifestly unfounded. That is a very high legal hurdle because a well-funded corporate legal team can tie a case up for a long time and draft a claim that looks plausible on paper, but to the ordinary citizen, who has an information deficit in many cases, it basically forces them to face the prospect of a full trial and definitely makes them think it is going in that direction. That in itself has a chilling effect.
Regarding the costs, the very act of hiring a legal team to file the anti-SLAPP application costing thousands of euro is going to be prohibitive for some. Very small NGOs, community groups or individuals might not have these funds. It is still hard to get backing for legal cases in a proper manner. For small persons, therefore, there is still a risk that their home is going to be taken away from them if they raise this issue. When I was a councillor, for example, a pub wrote to me saying that when I had said that people crossing over a median to go to the pub were taking their lives into their hands, that was defamatory against the pub. I had to rephrase my remarks in a certain way because I did not have any means at the time. If we multiply that for people raising genuine public issues, we see that we have to get the legislation right.

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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