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GAZETTE
N E W S
MAY/JUNE
1995
Cameras in the Supreme Court - History
in the Making
CAMERAS IN THE SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court in session at the start of the hearing to test the constitutionality of the Abortion Information Bill. From left:
Mr. Justice Blaynev; Mr. Justice O'Flaherty; the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Hamilton; Mr. Justice Egan and Mrs. Justice Denham.
Photograph courtesy of the
Irish Times.
History was made on April 4 when an
RTE television camera was allowed
into the Supreme Court for the opening
of the constitutional challenge to the
Abortion Information Bill.
It was the first time that a TV camera
had been allowed to film a sitting Irish
court. The pictures were subsequently
used on RTE's 6.01 and 9 o'clock
television bulletins.
Ireland has no statutory provisions
relation to the making of vision
recordings in court. In this respect, it is
unlike England and Wales, where the
1925 Criminal Justice Act makes it a
criminal offence to attempt to take any
photograph in court. (The Act was
passed 11 years before the first public
television service began.) In Ireland, it
is a matter for the judge in each
individual case to decide whether such
activity should be allowed.
While sketch artists have been
permitted to operate in Irish courts on
occasion, judges have - almost without
exception - refused permission for the
making of television recordings for
non-judicial purposes.
In the past four years, the nearest RTE
news came to televising the courts was
a broadcast of the former Chief Justice,
Mr Justice Finlay, with judges from
Northern Ireland, presiding over a law
students' moot court in the Supreme
Court. RTE has also broadcast pictures
of the interiors of the Four Courts (the
Supreme Court, the High Court, the
Round Hall) with nobody present. A
report was also transmitted which
included an interview with senior
counsel in an empty High Court (on the
subject of televising the courts).
RTE's legal affairs correspondent,
Kieron Wood, who organised the
pictures of the Supreme Court, said:
"For some time, I've been anxious to
open up the courts to the public, to let
them see how justice is done in their
name. On this occasion, I spoke to the
Chief Justice and, because of the
importance of the case, he agreed to
allow cameras in to film the entry of the
judges. We were also able to get a few
pictures of solicitors and counsel before
the judges came into court, but, as soon
as the judges sat down, we had to leave."
Kieron, who's in his final year of study
for the Bar, added: "I hope very much
that this is just the beginning of a trend
which will see more televised court
proceedings. I accept that there are
very real concerns that television
cameras might interfere with the
administration of justice, but I think
that those can be addressed by the
advisory committee which the Law
Reform Commission has recommended
should be set up to advise the Minister
for Justice on this issue".
"It's clearly a matter which should be
approached sensitively and carefully,
but I believe that, at the end of the day,
justice should not only be done, but be
seen to be done."
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