Minister has dropped the ball on law that helps protect killers

I’VE never felt comfortable with a reporter doorstepping anyone at their home – not even a corrupt Fat Cat.

- JASON O'TOOLE

But the Irish media is usually very good at handling sensitive stories, particularly those concerning children and sexual assault.

Even suicides appear under the euphemism “died suddenly” in order not to distress the next of kin.

It all makes the law an even bigger ass after a recent court ruling preventing the media identifying children who have been allegedly murdered once somebody is charged.

We’re on a slippery slope to a 1984 dystopian society when Irish judges can easily make such radical calls on how archaic laws are interpreted.

As things stand today – until the Coalition brings in new, promised legislation to resolve this out-and-out censorship – the media can’t even identify convicted child killers.

How could any democratic legal system deem it acceptable to allow such veils of secrecy?

SHAMEFUL

It shamefully gags the victim’s family from keeping their loved one’s memory alive in public.

The ruling could also prohibit child sex abuse victims from automatically waiving their right to anonymity when they reach adulthood.