Does the abolition of juries change what evidence I need?

It changes who reads it. A judge sitting alone decides liability and assesses damages, working from the documents and the submissions. That rewards a file that is complete, dated and independently checkable, and it removes the element of a jury reacting to a description of something they cannot see.

How do I identify someone who posted anonymously?

The Circuit Court can order identification under the 2026 Act. The practical prerequisite is the same as it always was: you have to show the court the publication, the account and the context. That is exactly the material that disappears when an account is deleted, so preserve it before you take any step that might prompt deletion.

Is a screenshot enough?

It is enough to instruct a solicitor, and plenty of actions start that way. It is thin once the claim is contested, because an image file carries no proof of when it was made or whether it was edited. A capture with a hash, a signature and a qualified timestamp does not have that problem, and in Ireland that timestamp carries the Article 41 presumption.

Can I still act if the post is already deleted?

Sometimes, through archives, cached copies or the accounts of people who saw it. It is harder, slower and less certain than capturing while it was live. If you can still see the post today, capture it today, because the one-year clock does not pause while you look for a copy.

Does this help if I am the one being sued?

Yes, and it is underused on that side. Capture what you actually published before you edit or remove anything, and capture the context that shows it concerned a matter of public interest. The defences in the 2009 Act as amended are all easier to run from a preserved record than from a recollection.

My company wants to sue. Is the test different?

Yes. Since 1 March 2026 a body corporate must show that the publication caused or was likely to cause serious financial loss, which individual plaintiffs do not have to prove. That is an evidential burden about consequences, and the consequences are usually traced back to the publication as it stood, which is precisely the thing that gets edited or deleted.

Defamation Act 2009 · reformed 1 March 2026

One year to sue. The post may not last the week.

Irish defamation law gives you one year from publication, which a court can extend to two at the very most. On 1 March 2026 much of the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026 commenced: juries are gone from High Court defamation actions, the Circuit Court can order the identification of an anonymous poster, and there is a simplified public interest defence. What has not changed is that everything you need to prove sits on a page somebody can delete.

Capture the publication How it works

Works on Chrome and Edge. From $4.99 (approx. €4.30) as a one-off, or a 7-day trial that requires a credit card.

M. Traeger

Public post · 412 shares

“The people running that firm took money that was never theirs. Ask anyone who worked there. I would not let them near my family.”

Deleted 6 days later, after 412 shares. One year to sue, and nothing left to sue about.

Captured & sealed

SHA-256 · Bitcoin timestamp

Illustrative example. Fictional post and fictional firm.

Ireland reformed its defamation law in 2026, and the reform makes preserved evidence more useful rather than less. Under the Defamation Act 2009 an action must be brought within one year of the cause of action accruing, which a court may extend but never beyond two years. Much of the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026 commenced on 1 March 2026: it abolishes juries in High Court defamation actions, gives the Circuit Court power to require the identification of a person who posted allegedly defamatory material anonymously, supports alternative dispute resolution, simplifies the defence of publication on a matter of public interest, and creates a defence for retailers. A judge sitting alone assesses damages, and a judge reads documents. ProofSnap captures the post, the profile, the comment thread and the visible engagement as a package containing the full page, the saved source, the URL, the UTC capture time, a SHA-256 hash of every file, an RSA-4096 signature and an eIDAS qualified timestamp, which in Ireland carries the Article 41 presumption directly. From $4.99 (approx. €4.30) as a one-off.

By Radim Motycka, Founder and Lead Engineer, ProofSnap · Last updated: 30 July 2026 · Independently verifiable via Trust Verifier

Why this goes wrong so often

The post comes down, and the case comes down with it

People delete defamatory posts, usually because somebody advised them to, and it happens long before your solicitor sees the file.

Deleted before you get advice

The gap between reading something about yourself and instructing a solicitor is usually days. That is more than enough for the post, the account or the whole page to disappear, and platforms are not obliged to keep a copy for you.

An anonymous poster has to be identified

The Circuit Court can now order identification, but an application needs to show the court what was published and where. If the posting is gone, the application is built on a description of something nobody can see.

One year, two at the outside

The action must be brought within one year of the cause of action accruing. A court may extend, but the statutory ceiling is two years, and extensions are not granted lightly.

What changed on 1 March 2026, and what did not

The 2026 Act reshaped procedure rather than the underlying tort. The deadline and the burden of proving publication are exactly where they were.

Juries abolished in the High Court

High Court defamation actions are now heard by a judge sitting alone. The stated aim was to reduce cost, delay and unpredictable awards. A judge decides on the documents in front of them, which raises the value of a record that can be verified.

Identifying anonymous posters

The Circuit Court can require the identification of a person who posted allegedly defamatory material anonymously. That route only works if you can put the publication before the court, which means preserving it before the account vanishes.

One year, extendable to two at most

Under the Defamation Act 2009 the action must be brought within one year of the cause of action accruing, or such longer period as the court may direct, not exceeding two years. The Irish courts have refused extensions where the delay was not adequately explained.

New and simplified defences

The 2026 Act provides a simplified defence of publication on a matter of public interest and a new statutory defence for retailers, and it supports the use of alternative dispute resolution. Each of those is argued from what was actually published.

Capture the reach, not just the words

The most common gap in an Irish defamation file is proof of extent. Capture the post together with what is visible around it: the share count, the view count, the comment thread, the reactions, the size of the group or page it appeared on, and any reposts you can find. Capture each as its own record on the day you find it. If you may need to identify an anonymous poster, capture the profile, the handle and any other posting from the same account, because that is the material an application will be built from.

How do I capture a defamatory post in Ireland?

No forensic training required. The proof is in the package, not in your testimony about how careful you were.

Capture the publication and its reach

The post, the profile behind it, the comment thread and any reshares. Each capture records the URL and the UTC time, so the sequence of what appeared when is preserved.

The package seals and timestamps itself

SHA-256 for every file, an RSA-4096 signature over the manifest, an eIDAS qualified timestamp and an anchor to the Bitcoin blockchain, so the date of your capture cannot be moved.

Hand it to your solicitor as one file

The PDF evidence report reads like a document and the ZIP verifies in a browser. Your solicitor gets a file to build the letter or the application from rather than a folder of loose images.

What is in a defamation evidence package?

Between 11 and 15 files depending on your plan, delivered as one ZIP that anyone can check without installing anything.

Full-page screenshot

The whole page, not just the visible window, stitched and hashed.

Saved page source

The document as rendered at capture time, including the head, meta tags and structured data.

Extracted page text

Searchable plain text, so a quote can be found and cited without retyping.

Technical metadata

URL, page title, HTTP response headers, browser, operating system and the capture time in UTC.

Signed manifest

SHA-256 for every file, signed with an RSA-4096 key whose public key ships in the package.

Blockchain timestamp

The manifest hash anchored to Bitcoin via OpenTimestamps, so the capture time cannot be backdated.

Chain of custody and forensic log

A record of what happened during the capture, in the order it happened.

Evidence report as PDF

A readable summary you can attach to an application, a notice or a report.

Verification instructions

Written steps plus scripts, so the other side can re-check the hashes offline.

Where all of that comes from

Every file above is produced by one press in the side panel, while the publication is still up. The words complained of, the account behind them, the address and the time are recorded together, which is the material a plenary summons has to set out with some precision.

If the same statement was published in several places, capture each one. Separate packages make it far easier to plead separate publications later.

Want to see what comes out before you install anything? Download a sample evidence package and open it yourself.

The ProofSnap side panel open beside a page in Chrome, with the capture button, the qualified timestamp option and the Trust Verifier link

Anyone can verify it, including the other side. Drop the ZIP onto the public Trust Verifier and the hashes, the signature and the timestamp are checked in the browser. Nothing is uploaded and nothing depends on ProofSnap still existing.

Three ways to get the evidence

Prices are charged in USD. Approximate euro figures are shown for orientation only, and your card issuer sets the actual rate.

One dispute

$4.99 once

approx. €4.30

A SnapPack is a single up-front purchase for a set number of captures. No subscription, no auto-renewal, no trial. Best when you have one problem and you want it documented today.

Get a SnapPack

Ongoing matters

$8.99/month

approx. €7.80

For anyone who captures regularly: practitioners, property managers, HR, investigators. The 7-day free trial requires a credit card. Cancel any time during the trial and you are not charged.

Start the 7-day trial

We do it for you

$44.99 per URL

approx. €39

Send us the link and our team captures the package for you, with nothing to install. Useful when the capture should not come from a party to the dispute.

See the capture service

ProofSnap is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Qualified timestamps are issued by Disig a.s., a Qualified Trust Service Provider on the EU Trusted List. Ireland applies eIDAS directly as an EU member state, so that timestamp carries the Article 41 presumption here without any retained-law argument.

Official sources

Every figure and deadline on this page comes from the following primary sources. Check them yourself rather than taking our word for it.

Defamation Act 2009 the Act itself, including the limitation period.
Defamation (Amendment) Act 2026 the Act as enacted, commenced on 1 March 2026.
Oireachtas: the Bill and its passage the debates and the stages behind the 2026 reform.
Citizens Information: the law on defamation a plain-language summary of the tort and the defences.

If the statement was made by an employer around a dismissal, the six-month WRC deadline will usually bite long before the defamation one does. Ireland and the United Kingdom look similar here and behave differently. Ireland has no general statutory serious harm threshold of the kind England and Wales introduced in 2013 for individual plaintiffs, though since 1 March 2026 a body corporate suing for defamation must show that the statement caused or was likely to cause serious financial loss. The limitation period runs one year with a statutory ceiling of two. Do not work from English guidance.

Questions people actually ask

One year to act. The post may not last the week.

Capture the publication and its reach while both are still visible, then take advice.

Capture the publication ProofSnap in Ireland