Child Care Act, 1991

Prohibition on publication or broadcast of certain matters.

31.—(1) No matter likely to lead members of the public to identify a child who is or has been the subject of proceedings under Part III , IV or VI shall be published in a written publication available to the public or be broadcast.

(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1), the court may, in any case if satisfied that it is appropriate to do so in the interests of the child, by order dispense with the prohibitions of that subsection in relation to him to such extent as may be specified in the order.

(3) If any matter is published or broadcast in contravention of subsection (1), each of the following persons, namely—

(a) in the case of publication in a newspaper or periodical, any proprietor, any editor and any publisher of the newspaper or periodical,

(b) in the case of any other publication, the person who publishes it, and

(c) in the case of a broadcast, any body corporate who transmits or provides the programme in which the broadcast is made and any person having functions in relation to the programme corresponding to those of an editor of a newspaper,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.

(4) Nothing in this section shall affect the law as to contempt of court.

(5) In this section—

“broadcast” means the transmission, relaying or distribution by wireless telegraphy of communications, sounds, signs, visual images or signals, intended for direct reception by the general public whether such communications, sounds, signs, visual images or signals are actually received or not;

“written publication” includes a film, a sound track and any other record in permanent form (including a record that is not in a legible form but which is capable of being reproduced in a legible form) but does not include an indictment or other document prepared for use in particular legal proceedings.