Vol. 455 No. 4
21 Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the proposals, if any, he has to introduce a new cause of action with respect to defamation of the dead; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12254/95]
Among the recommendations contained in the Law Reform Commission report on the Civil Law of Defamation is that a new cause of action should be instituted in respect of defamatory statements made about a person who is dead at the time of publication of those statements. That recommendation contained a number of elements:
(i) the right to institute defamation proceedings in such a case should be vested solely in the personal representative of the deceased who would be under a statutory obligation to consult the immediate family of the deceased;
(ii) the period of limitation within which proceedings must be instituted should be three years from the death of the allegedly defamed person, and
(iii) the only remedy available should be a declaratory order and, where appropriate, an injunction.
This is one among many proposals for change which were made by the Law Reform Commission and I will be considering it in the context of my overall review of this area.
