Freedom of the Press 2007: Ireland

An Irish court has created a precedent where damage to a person’s reputation could lead to criminal sanction — and no one seems to have noticed.

ARTICLE 19 strongly opposes the current Irish policy allowing for imposition of fees for making requests as well as the pending bill before the Dail to expand fees by allowing requests to be split and charged for each facet.

Suspected illegal downloaders will be contacted twice by phone, mail or e-mail and if they are caught a fourth time, their connection will be suspended for a year.