John Maher BL

John Maher is a full-time barrister based in Dublin. He practices in general civil litigation, with a particular expertise in media law including defamation, freedom of expression, data protection, privacy, the law of contempt and related matters.  He acts for both plaintiffs and defendants, principally in the High Court and Circuit Court.  He was called to the Bar in 2008.

He is the author of The Law of Defamation (Thomson Reuters Round Hall; First Edition 2011, Second Edition 2018), the first book to analyse the Defamation Act 2009 following its enactment.  The work has been cited in a number of High Court judgments.

John has advised a number of media companies and publishers, and is often required to advise on prepublication concerns in the context of potentially defamatory material.  He also advises on related privacy and data protection issues and on matters such as the scope of journalistic privilege and dealing with potential contempt of court.  John is also engaged in litigation arising from defamation and related torts in retail settings. John is instructed by solicitors and in-house counsel. He is practical and solution-orientated and often called upon to craft workable settlements in complex defamation-related litigation.

Before becoming a barrister he was a journalist and was a  business reporter, crime reporter, news editor and opinion editor at the Irish Times.

Some of the litigation in which John has been engaged (for defendant or plaintiff as indicated):

Dermot Desmond v Irish Times [2016 to date] High Court – most recent judgment concerns expert witness evidence in a defamation action (representing the defendant); Judge Owens [2025] IEHC 134

Dermot Desmond v Irish Times [2016 to date] High Court – discovery and disclosure obligations – journalistic privilege (representing the defendant) judgment of Judge Collins [2020] IEHC 95

Reape v Show Jumping Ireland and Ors. [2020 to date] High Court defamation action (representing the plaintiff).

Donagher v Gradam Communications – [2025] High Court;  Norwich Pharmacal order (a court-ordered disclosure re social media/online comment); (representing the defendant).

EH v Associated Newspapers (Irish Daily Mail) and Reach plc [2024] High Court defamation action (representing the plaintiff)

John Kelly v Associated Newspapers (Irish Daily Mail) [2013-2015] High Court defamation action (representing the defendant).

Dana Rosemary Scallon  v Irish Times and Meta / facebook [2015-to date] High Court defamation action (representing the first defendant).

Denis O’Brien v Irish Times [2016] High Court defamation action (representing the defendant)

Mark O’Toole v Patrick Cosgrave [2022 to date] High Court defamation action (representing the plaintiff)

Farrell v RCPSA [2023] High Court injunction/chancery (representing the defendants)

Moran v Pod Festivals [2023 to date] High Court defamation action (representing the plaintiff)

McGeehin and Ors v Springer Nature Switzerland AG (Alex Springer) [2021] High Court defamation action (representing the plaintiffs)

Norah Casey v Irish Times [2018] High Court defamation action (representing the defendant)

Deegan v Reach plc (Irish Daily Mirror, Irish Daily Star) [2022] defamation action (representing the plaintiff)

Myers v Post Publications (Sunday Business Post) [2019] High Court defamation action (representing the plaintiff)

Patrick Cooney v Irish  Times [2016] High Court defamation action (representing the defendant)

Regulation / Criminal Law

DPP v Daly, O’Mahoney, Maguire [2015] (representing first defendant at criminal trial and in the Court of Appeal where convictions were quashed. Judgment of Judge Birmingham [2015] IECA 350

John’s book The Law of Defamation (Thomson Reuters Round Hall; first edition 2011, second edition 2018) has been referenced by judges in a number of judgments including-

Mackin v Denis O’Brien & Ors.; Judge Heslin [2021] IEHC 660

Ryanair v Quigley; Judge Binchy [2015] IEHC 776

David Norris v RTE & Ors; President of the High Court Kearns [2014] IEHC 84

Ganley v RTE; Judge Barrett [2017] IEHC 78

Cullen v Sheehy and Wicklow Co. Council; Judge Baker [2017] IEHC 459

Holland v Waters; Judge O’Connor [2024] IECC 7

The book was also cited throughout the 2022 Report of the Review of the Defamation Act 2009, the government report leading to the planned reform of the defamation legislation. The report may be found at:

(https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/report-of-the-review-of-the-defamation-act-2009.pdf)

Other publication include:

“Recent Developments in Defamation Law – a view of the Supreme Court findings in the Higgins case, and a quick survey of planned government reforms.” Article, Commercial Law Practitioner March 2022 [Thomson Reuters Round Hall]