The High Court has decided the Attorney General should be asked if he wishes to be a party to proceedings brought by an English barrister who is being sued for defamation by two members of the Birmingham Six.
The convictions of the six men for the 1974 Birmingham bombings were overturned by the English Court of Appeal in 1990 as unsafe and unsatisfactory.
Mr Hugh Callaghan and Mr Gerry Hunter claim they were found to have been victims of a miscarriage of justice.
They are suing Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC and the legal publishing firm of Gerald Duckworth Ltd. Sir Louis wrote a booklet, The Birmingham Six and Other Cases, which was published by Duckworths. Mr Callaghan and Mr Hunter claim they were defamed in the booklet.
Sir Louis has questioned men's entitlement to bring the libel action. A preliminary matter was heard by the High Court in November 2000 and as a result Mr Justice ╙ Caoimh was yesterday due to hear argument by counsel for both sides about whether Sir Louis was entitled, under the Constitution, EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights, to the right to freely express the statements, convictions, opinions and ideas in his booklet.
Mr Justice ╙ Caoimh said the issues canvassed on Sir Louis' behalf were novel in the Irish context. He had raised the issue of the constitutional primacy of one right over another - to freedom of expression as opposed to the protection of the citizen's good name.
Mr Michael Ashe SC, for Sir Louis, said the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression would indicate a positive legal right that did not detract from the protection given to a good name.
The judge said the points raised were giving rise to a defence not previously recognised in this State. On that basis it was appropriate that notice of the application be given to the Attorney General.