Sir, - It was unusual to read an article in this newspaper about freedom of speech: "Letting the public have their say" by Vincent Browne (February 20th).
Some people cling to the illusion that we enjoy freedom of speech in Ireland to the same extent as citizens of other democracies such as the United States. Mr Browne suggested that the Irish law of defamation should be amended to allow "qualified privilege" for the ordinary citizen in order "to protect free debate and permit us to engage if not on an equal basis (with members of the Dail) then at least without fear of having the pants sued off us if we make a genuine mistake?"
When indications of alleged planning and financial irregularities emerged from the Flood Tribunal, many journalists claimed that they had already known about these matters but had been afraid to publish their stories because they did not have the kind of detailed evidence which a court would require. Fear of libel writs acted as a form of self-censorship and resulted in the public being kept in the dark.
These journalists claimed that even "the dogs in the street" knew about these matters. (Incidentally, for legal reasons, I want to make it clear that neither I nor the dogs in my street knew anything about alleged planning irregularities).
On your world news pages you reported recently how President Mugabe of Zimbabwe introduced severe new laws to limit freedom of speech. If he had studied the way certain European countries used restrictive libel laws and official secrets acts to smother freedom of speech he would have discovered a more subtle way to restrict public debate on important democratic issues. - Yours, etc.,
JOSEPH MARRON,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.