INDEPENDENT Limerick councillor Emmett O’Brien, who practices defamation law, has welcomed this week’s clarification by the High Court that it never intended to, nor could not, restrain TDs from making statements in the Dáil or restrict the fair and accurate reporting by the Irish media of such statements. “The chilling consequences, had the High Court not clarified what seemed an obvious principle, would be to turn Ireland into a mini Putinland by Denis O’Brien and his legal team in restricting the constitutionally guarded protection of absolute privilege of our Dail,” said Cllr O’Brien.
