Many fine journalists have training in the legal professions – Vincent Browne being a prominent example. Nowadays an understanding of the law, in particular the laws of libel, is a necessity.Much of a journalism student’s time is spent studying law, and many a sub-editor has become prematurely grey and/or bald wondering whether or not an article is libellous. One of the most dramatic examples of the effects of our libel system was the award of (pounds) 300,000 to former Minister Proinsias De Rossa TD, who was libelled by Eammon Dunphy of Independent Newspapers. Had a small provincial newspaper been fined a similar amount, its future would be in doubt. Ireland has stringent – some would say draconian – libel laws, in place to protect the citizen’s good name and reputation. Most libel cases are caused by simple mistakes and poor research, not by controversial issues. But the question has to be asked: do the libel laws infringe on journalists’ investigative capabilities? How many stories of national importance are not published because of fear of litigation? Too many. Shouldn’t we put our trust in systems of “right to reply”? Perhaps the best reply to litigation came from the late comedian Dermot Morgan, in his Scrap Saturday period. On receipt of a solicitor’s letter protesting that a backbench TD had been called a “gobshite”, Morgan apologised: the TD should have been referred to as a “complete gobshite”, he claimed!