Jim O'Callaghan plans to reform defamation legislation in aftermath of Gerry Adams's High Court victory
It comes as Gerry Adams was last week awarded €100,000 in damages after being defamed in a BBC documentary and news article.
The jury last week rejected defences put forward by the BBC that the allegation was published in good faith and that it was fair and reasonable to do so.
Section 26 of the Defamation Act 2009 outlines the possible defence of fair and reasonable publication, citing the need for the publication to be in good faith and for the public benefit.
'As our legal team made clear, if the BBC's case cannot be won under existing Irish defamation law, it's hard to see how anyone's could,' said the head of BBC Northern Ireland Adam Smyth, speaking after the jury's decision.
Defamation reforms passed committee stage in the Dáil at the end of April and are being passed 'as a matter of priority'
Eoin O'Dell, a law lecturer in Trinity College Dublin, said that no Section 26 defence has ever succeeded in this country.
He said the Adams case 'shows how limited a defence it is for media'. He said the defence needs to be simplified, as had happened with defamation law in England.
The Department of Justice confirmed that Jim O'Callaghan intends to bring forward an amendment 'to provide for a clearer and simpler defence of fair and reasonable publication in the public interest'.
The Government has also promised to pass defamation law reforms with safeguards against strategic lawsuits against public participation, also known as SLAPP suits.
Defamation reforms passed committee stage in the Dáil at the end of April, and are now being passed 'as a matter of priority', said the spokesperson at the Department.
Sinn Féin sources this weekend said that even though they believe the former party leader's reputation has now been restored, he will not be running in the race for the Áras later this year.
Sinn Féin members have been asked by party headquarters for their ideas on how the party should approach the presidential election.
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Irish Examiner
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RTÉ News
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Crunching the numbers of running for president
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The campaign also had a lot of merchandising that it was able to raise money from. "Certain spends in a campaign are preordained," Mr Power said, citing posters and advertising on both traditional and social media platforms. "You have to reach people where they are," Mr Power said, "whether that be by posters, by leafleting and then canvassing." "People want to meet the candidates, that's a big issue and a part of any spend." Mr Power said he doesn't feel there is any one particular expense that is vital to a campaign. "A campaign spend has to be balanced around all the different means of communication and means of getting people to meet the candidate," he said. Election literature of the past Alan Kinsella has been collecting Irish election literature since he was 12 years old and his collection for the Irish presidency goes back to the 1930s. One thing that is clear from looking at the literature is that the bid for the Irish presidency is a personality-driven race rather than party-driven. "Dev, Erskine Childers, Adi Roach, Mary Robinson, Brian Lenihan, Liadh Ní Riada and Michael D Higgins - none of them have the party logo," Mr Kinsella said, referring to his collection of leaflets. "Mary McAleese is the only person to have won a presidential election using the party logo and actually she was a candidate for Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats," he added. Although Michael D Higgins and Mary Robinson both used the Labour Party rose, neither used the Labour Party itself in their election material.
