Ó Concubhair, Cian
(2023)
Journalistic privilege in Ireland.
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 74 (2).
pp. 237-268.
ISSN 0029-3105
Abstract
Legal protection for confidential journalist sources has often been
a site of tension and dispute between journalists, the police and
the courts. Journalists routinely claim that freedom of expression
guarantees provided for under international and domestic human
rights instruments include a legal privilege against disclosure of
confidential journalist sources. This claim is often raised to resist
compelled disclosure of journalistic materials to police as part of
criminal investigations. Courts in many jurisdictions have forcefully
repudiated this legal claim, though many recognise some right for
journalists to refuse disclosure. Some courts have reluctantly conceded
to the naming of this right as ‘journalistic privilege’.
In 2020, courts on both sides of the Irish border were called upon to
vindicate this right against disclosure. This recent flurry of litigation
has, in the Republic of Ireland, built upon more than a decade of
significant legal developments around ‘journalistic privilege’. These
latter developments have dramatically expanded the scope of the Irish
Constitution’s freedom of expression guarantees.
This article critically reviews this last decade of significant legal
developments around ‘journalistic privilege’ in the Republic of Ireland.
It examines the two recent and highly significant Irish determinations
from 2020 in Fine Point Films and Corcoran, and how the former
Northern Irish judgment has created significant new avenues for legal
development in the Republic of Ireland. The article also identifies and
considers some important, emergent themes in Strasbourg’s article 10
jurisprudence: specifically an apparent new ‘source motive’ test for
article 10 protection of confidential source material.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
journalistic privilege; confidential source protection;
article 10 ECHR; article 40.6.1º Bunreacht na hÉireann; media
freedom; police powers; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Law |
| Item ID: |
18938 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.53386/nilq.v74i2.1034 |
| Depositing User: |
Mr Cian Ó Concubhair
|
| Date Deposited: |
26 Sep 2024 14:02 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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