Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1. Short title and commencement

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be appointed by order or orders made by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, either generally or by reference to any particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions, including the insertion into the Principal Act of different provisions of Part 4A of that Act effected by section 19.

2. Definitions

2. In this Act—

“cause of action”, “defamation” and “defamation action” have the same meanings as they have in the Principal Act;

“Principal Act” means the Defamation Act 2009.

PART 2 Amendment of Section 2 of Principal Act

3. Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act

3. Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘Act of 2015’ means the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015;”,

(b) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “periodical”:

“ ‘periodical’ means—

(a) any newspaper, magazine, journal or other publication that is printed, published or issued, or that circulates, in the State at regular or substantially regular intervals and includes any version thereof published on the internet or by other electronic means, or

(b) any newspaper, magazine, journal or other publication that is published or issued, or that circulates, only on the internet or by other electronic means at regular or substantially regular intervals—

(i) by a publisher who is established in the State, or

(ii) the publication of which is specifically targeted at the general public, or a section of the general public, in the State;”,

and

(c) by the deletion of the definition of “summary relief”.

PART 3 Abolition of Juries in High Court Defamation Actions

4. Abolition of juries in High Court defamation actions

4. (1) Subject to subsection (2) and notwithstanding section 94 of The Courts of Justice Act 1924, or any other provision made by or under statute or any rule of law, a defamation action in the High Court, or a question of fact or an issue arising in such an action, shall not be tried with a jury.

(2) Subsection (1) shall apply only to defamation actions that are brought on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

5. Amendments consequential to section 4

5. (1) The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 13, by the deletion of subsection (2),

(b) in section 14(3), by the deletion of “and shall be determined, in the case of a defamation action brought in the High Court, in the absence of the jury”,

(c) in section 30(4), by the deletion of “or, where the action is tried in the High Court sitting with a jury, the trial judge”,

(d) in section 31—

(i) by the deletion of subsection (2),

(ii) in subsection (4)(k), by the deletion of “or, where the action is tried by the High Court sitting with a jury, would propose to make in the event of there being a finding of defamation”, and

(iii) by the deletion of subsection (8),

(e) in section 32, by the deletion of subsection (3), and

(f) in section 34, by the deletion of subsection (4).

(2) The amendments effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to defamation actions that are brought on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

PART 4 Defamation of Body Corporate

6. Defamation of body corporate

6. The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 12:

“Defamation of body corporate

12. (1) The provisions of this Act apply to a body corporate as they apply to a natural person, and a body corporate may bring a defamation action under this Act in respect of a statement concerning it that it claims is defamatory.

(2) A statement concerning a body corporate that is made on or after the date of the coming into operation of section 6 of the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026 is not defamatory unless its publication has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm to the reputation of the body corporate.

(3) Harm to the reputation of a body corporate that trades for profit shall not be considered to be serious harm for the purposes of subsection (2) unless it has caused, or is likely to cause, the body corporate serious financial loss.”.

PART 5 Amendment of Part 3 of Principal Act

7. Amendment of section 17 of Principal Act

7. (1) Section 17 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (2), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (i):

“(i) a fair and accurate report of proceedings publicly heard before, or a decision made public by, any court (including a court-martial)—

(i) established by law in the State,

(ii) established under the law of Northern Ireland, or

(iii) established under the law of any other state or place,”,

and

(b) by the renumbering of subsection (4) (inserted by section 38(b) of the Parole Act 2019) as subsection (5).

(2) The amendment effected by paragraph (a) of subsection (1) shall apply only to causes of action accruing on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

8. Amendment of section 18 of Principal Act

8. (1) Section 18 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “this section or, in relation to a statement referred to in subsection (1A), the commencement of section 8 of the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026” for “this section”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), it shall be a defence to a defamation action for the defendant to prove that the statement to which the action relates—

(a) consisted of—

(i) an inquiry as to whether the person whom the statement concerned had—

(I) paid for goods or services,

(II) obtained services, or

(III) in his or her possession—

(A) goods,

(B) proof of payment for goods, or

(C) proof of payment for services,

or

(ii) a statement that the means of payment proffered by the person whom the statement concerned was unable to be, or not capable of being, accepted,

and

(b) was not published excessively,

provided that the person who made the inquiry referred to in paragraph (a)(i) or the statement referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) had a duty or interest in making it.”.

(2) The amendments effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to causes of action accruing on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

9. Amendment of section 22(5) of Principal Act

9. (1) Section 22(5) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) to publish that correction and apology in such manner as will ensure that the correction and apology will be given the same or similar prominence as was given to the statement concerned, unless the person to whom the statement refers or is alleged to refer otherwise requests,”.

(2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to causes of action accruing on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

10. Amendment of section 23 of Principal Act

10. (1) Section 23 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “unless the plaintiff proves that, at the time of the publication of the statement to which the offer relates, the defendant knew that, or was reckless as to whether” for “unless the plaintiff proves that the defendant knew or ought reasonably to have known at the time of the publication of the statement to which the offer relates that”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5):

“(6) In addition to having regard to the matters provided for in section 169(1) of the Act of 2015, a court shall, when considering the making of an order as to costs in a defamation action, have regard to the conduct, subsequent to the making of an offer of amends, of—

(a) the person who made the offer, and

(b) the person to whom the offer was made,

in relation to the offer.”.

(2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to causes of action accruing on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

11. Defence of fair publication on matter of public interest

11. (1) The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 26:

“Fair publication on matter of public interest

26. (1) It shall be a defence (to be known as the ‘defence of fair publication on a matter of public interest’) to a defamation action for the defendant to prove that the publication was fair in all the circumstances of the case, in that—

(a) the statement in respect of which the action was brought was on a matter of public interest,

(b) the defendant reasonably believed that publishing the statement was in the public interest, and

(c) the statement was published in good faith.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), a court shall, for the purposes of determining whether subsection (1)(b) is proved, have regard to whether the belief was arrived at after the making of such enquiries and checks as it was reasonable to expect of the defendant.

(3) Where the statement in respect of which the defamation action was brought was an accurate and impartial account of a dispute to which the plaintiff in the defamation action was a party, the court shall, in determining whether it was reasonable for the defendant to believe that publishing the statement was in the public interest, disregard any omission of the defendant to take steps to verify the truth of the imputation conveyed by it.”.

(2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to causes of action accruing on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

12. Abolition of Reynolds defence

12. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 26:

“Abolition of Reynolds defence

26A. (1) Any common law defence known as the Reynolds defence that, immediately before the commencement of section 12 of the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026, could have been pleaded as a defence in a defamation action is abolished.

(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply to causes of action accruing before the date of the coming into operation of section 12 of the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026.”.

13. Defence in relation to broadcast of live programme

13. (1) The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 27:

“Live broadcast defence

27A. (1) It shall be a defence (to be known as the ‘live broadcast defence’) to a defamation action that relates to a statement published by a relevant person during the broadcast of a live programme for the broadcaster of the programme to prove that, in advance of and during that broadcast, the broadcaster took reasonable and prudent precautions to prevent the publication by a relevant person of a defamatory statement during the live programme.

(2) The court shall, in determining for the purposes of subsection (1) whether a broadcaster of a live programme took reasonable and prudent precautions, have regard to such matters as the court considers relevant, including the following:

(a) the level of effective control over the relevant person that could reasonably be expected of the broadcaster in those circumstances, including—

(i) the nature of the location from which the live programme was broadcast,

(ii) the nature of the live programme, and

(iii) whether the relevant person was a contributor, or a person other than a contributor, to the live programme;

(b) the overall measures employed by the broadcaster to ensure the taking of reasonable and prudent precautions and risk management in the conception, design and planning of live programmes, including editorial policies, risk assessment, programme production procedures, staff training and guidance and, where appropriate, transmission delays;

(c) the extent to which the broadcaster carried out an appropriate risk assessment, in respect of the risk of a relevant person making a defamatory statement during the live programme, in relation to the programme prior to its broadcast, having regard in particular to—

(i) the type of—

(I) live programme concerned, and

(II) persons envisaged as participants in the live programme,

(ii) the topics to be addressed during the live programme, and

(iii) the public interest in having a live programme on the topic concerned;

(d) where appropriate, having regard to the conclusions of the risk assessment referred to in paragraph (c), whether any appropriate vetting of participants in the live programme was carried out;

(e) the overall management in practice of the live programme concerned, and of its participants, by the broadcaster and in particular by the presenter of the live programme.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, the live broadcast defence shall not fail by reason only of the live programme concerned having been broadcast with a minimal delay.

(4) In this section—

‘broadcast’, ‘broadcaster’ and ‘programme’ shall each have the same meaning as they have in the Broadcasting Act 2009;

‘contributor’ means a participant in a live programme who has been invited by the broadcaster of the live programme to make statements in the course of the programme and who is not an employee or contractor of the broadcaster;

‘relevant person’, in relation to a defamatory statement referred to in subsection (1), includes—

(a) a contributor, or

(b) a person whose presence or participation in the live programme was not invited by the broadcaster concerned and who is not an employee or contractor of the broadcaster.”.

(2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to causes of action accruing on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

PART 6 Amendment of Part 4 of Principal Act

14. Amendment of section 28 of Principal Act

14. (1) Section 28 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (2)(a), by the substitution of “application that is reasonably likely to succeed” for “application”, and

(b) in subsection (6), by the substitution of “section 30 or 33, or orders under both of those sections” for “section 30 or 33”.

(2) The amendments effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to applications under section 28 of the Principal Act made on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

15. Amendment of section 29(1) of Principal Act

15. (1) Section 29(1) of the Principal Act is amended by the deletion of “when filing his or her defence to the action”.

(2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to actions for damages for defamation brought on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

16. Amendment of section 30(2) of Principal Act

16. (1) Section 30(2) of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in paragraph (a), by the substitution of “published,” for “published, and”,

(b) in paragraph (b), by the substitution of “correction, and” for “correction”, and

(c) by the substitution of the following paragraph for “and shall, unless the plaintiff otherwise requests, require the correction to be published in such manner as will ensure that it is communicated to all or substantially all of those persons to whom the defamatory statement was published.”:

“(c) unless the plaintiff otherwise requests, require the correction to be published in such manner as will ensure that—

(i) it is given the same or similar prominence as was given to the defamatory statement, and

(ii) it is communicated to all or substantially all of those persons to whom the defamatory statement was published.”.

(2) The amendments effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to defamation actions brought on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

17. Amendment of section 33(1) of Principal Act

17. (1) Section 33(1) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of “if the court is satisfied that” for “if in its opinion”.

(2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only—

(a) in a case where a defamation action has been brought, where the defamation action is brought on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section, or

(b) in a case where a defamation action has not been brought, to an application under section 33 of the Principal Act made to the High Court on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

18. Amendment of section 34(1) of Principal Act

18. (1) Section 34(1) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of “a correction order or an order prohibiting further publication of the statement to which the defamation action relates, or both,” for “summary relief”.

(2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to defamation actions brought on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.

PART 7 Additional Provisions Regarding Defamation Proceedings Relating to Engagement in Public Participation

19. Insertion of Part 4A into Principal Act

19. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following Part after Part 4:

“PART 4A

ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS REGARDING DEFAMATION PROCEEDINGS RELATING TO ENGAGEMENT IN PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Definitions (Part 4A)

34A. In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires—

‘abusive court proceedings against public participation’ means defamation proceedings or part thereof that pursue unfounded claims and that are not brought to genuinely assert or exercise a right, but that have as their main purpose the prevention, restriction or penalisation of public participation, frequently exploiting an imbalance of power between the parties, including but not limited to—