It should be easier in this country to identify and expose abusers

This week, the Government announced that it was finally moving forward with a long-standing promise to better Ireland’s draconian defamation laws. Our harsh and punitive defamation regime, which some argue has disproportionately favoured the rich and powerful, has long been recognised as desperately needing sweeping reform. With some of the strictest defamation legislation, Ireland has often been regarded as a paradise for the wealthy and woeful: those who have all the power they need to do bad things, and the resources to keep them untold, unpublished and largely unknown through the weaponisation of defamation threats.