INDUSTRY FOCUS
Defamation is fuelling a small business crisis in Ireland
The boss of a security business that specialises in forecourt technology that prevents criminal ‘drive-offs’ is supporting an initiative to change the defamation of character laws in the Republic of Ireland.
Trevor Wallace, the managing director of Metro Security says that litigious and often malicious claimants for defamation in the cases of challenges to forecourt drive-offs are thwarting customer choice and that the RoI could soon be Europe’s only ‘pay-at-pump’ member state.
His claims come as ISME, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, said that business owners had been threatened with defamation in disputes where people had driven away from petrol stations without paying for fuel, used counterfeit notes or been refused entry to a pub or restaurant.
It said that small businesses could typically expect to have to settle such cases for between €5,000 and €30,000.
Newsbrands Ireland, the representative body for national newspapers, is leading a campaign to get the government to reform defamation laws. It said that awards for defamation cases were significantly higher in Ireland than in the UK and other European countries and that the “unpredictability” of high damages was harming the press.
It has called for a number of reforms, including the use of a “serious harm” test. A similar measure introduced in the UK says that a statement is not defamatory unless it has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to an individual, or serious financial loss for a business.
The group has also called for juries in defamation cases to be abolished. The campaign, backed by the Times newspaper, led to a number of editorials and adverts in newspapers to mark World Press Freedom Day.
ISME said that while newspapers would focus on the impact that defamation laws had on them, it was calling for greater awareness of the “chilling effect defamation has on all businesses”.
It said that owners were facing threats of defamation cases, with the majority settled before they reached court. “Claims against small businesses typically involve shoplifting; driving from a forecourt without paying for fuel; leaving a restaurant without paying; paying with a counterfeit note; and refusal of admission to (or request to vacate) premises,” ISME said, in a statement.
It has called for Charlie Flanagan, the justice minister, to consider reforming the law to address these issues, adding that there was “no sense of any political imperative to address changes”.
“It appears that most of our legislators are satisfied with the status quo,” the association said.
Wallace, whose business provides both kiosk payment and pay at pump security technology at fuel forecourts, said: “As a business we are agnostic as to methods of payment, but it seems totally unfair that a law designed to protect individuals is being used to generate financial gain for a few organised individuals who understand the law and the fact that businesses will pay out rather than risk reputational damage.
“Unless the law is modified in line with the UK defamation rules, we could see the Republic of Ireland as Europe’s only pay at pump nation as the user has to pay before the fuel is dispensed. In other words, there is no ambiguity around someone being accused of theft which could generate a claim.
“However, all this would do is reduce choice for bona fide consumers and the earning potential of garages that sell snacks and other groceries inside the kiosks,” he added.
