NI Conservatives’ justice spokesman, Julian Robertson, has asked why the Assembly is failing to enact defamation laws which are currently passing through the Westminster parliament.
“The Defamation Bill has been drafted to strike a fair balance between the right to free speech and the protection of an individual’s reputation”, Julian explained. “It requires that a person must show they have suffered serious harm before they can sue for defamation, meaning that it is much more difficult to use the law to simply suppress information.”
“In order to make this legislation effective across the UK the devolved Assemblies are asked to pass a ‘legislative consent motion’, which allows Westminster to pass the bill on their behalf. The Scottish Parliament has already agreed to do this, while our Executive claims it failed to agree the motion within the required timescale and so it won’t go before the Assembly.”
“This was an opportunity to get something done, quickly and easily, beyond the usual diet of carve-up politics we’re accustomed to at Stormont. Yet now we’re facing the prospect of Northern Ireland lagging behind the rest of the UK when it comes to defamation law and missing the chance to enact a good piece of legislation.”
“This is a ridiculous situation and suggests again that Northern Ireland is a place where our executive is holding us back. Why can our parties not get to grips with this issue? Are they too busy? We need to hear a clear account why the executive could not agree this bill and if it has an alternative course of action.”