Inforrm reported on a large number of defamation cases from around the world in 2025. Following a now established tradition, with our widely read posts on 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 defamation cases, we present our own eccentric selection of legally and factually interesting cases from England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Florida from the past year. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Category: Northern Ireland (Page 1 of 7)
Nestled within a corner of the internet, a new website was created in 2017. It was to be similar to a celebrity forum, but with one key difference. Rather than being a space for fans to celebrate those within the public eye, it was a space to attack them. Tattle Life would expressly target those who its posters had decreed had “choose[n] to monetise their personal life as a business and release it into the public domain”. Continue reading
On Tuesday 3 June the Omagh Bombing Inquiry delivered a Ruling on a redaction application by the Northern Ireland Office, as well as providing an outline of how it would treat the issue of the potential redaction of suspect identities. Continue reading
In what feels like a year of many firsts for media law in Northern Ireland, we review five key highlights from 2024. Continue reading
Midway through the Long Vacation, the Northern Ireland Department of Finance quietly published its statutorily mandated Report on the Review of the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 (the Report). The appearance of the Report fulfils the requirement, in Section 11 of the Act, that the Department should ‘keep under review all relevant developments pertaining to the law of defamation’, ‘prepare a report and recommendations on’ these developments and the operation of the Act, and publish the report and recommendations within two years of the Act receiving Royal Assent. Continue reading
In October 2023, Inforrm had a post concerning the commencement of statutory anonymity for those accused of sexual offences, for life and beyond, unless charged. Continue reading
On 8 January 2024, the High Court of Northern Ireland handed down judgment in the case of Kelly v O’Doherty [2024] NIMaster 1 [pdf]. The Master struck out a libel claim brought by former IRA member, Gerry Kelly holding that the claim was “scandalous, frivolous and vexatious.” Continue reading
On 7 November 2023, Master Bell handed down judgment in the High Court of Justice of Northern Ireland in the case of O’Neill v Carson (Defamation) [2023] NIMaster 9. Prominent Northern Irish politician, Michelle O’Neill was unsuccessful in her damages claim against Mr John O’Neill for an alleged defamatory Facebook comment he made about Ms O’Neill stating “She will be put back in her kennel”. Continue reading
On 7 September 2023, the High Court of Northern Ireland delivered judgment in the case of McGettigan v Mannok Holdings [2023] NIKB 90. The Plaintiff, a practising solicitor, claimed that Mannok Holdings had defamed him in three letters to the Law Society of Northern Ireland’s (LSNI) Professional Conduct Committee (PCC), submitted in complaint against him. Continue reading
In the dying days of the last Northern Ireland Executive the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Act (NI) 2022 was passed, implementing many of the recommendations of the Gillen Review Report into the law and procedures in serious sexual offences in NI. Continue reading
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