Photographer’s Rights in Ireland
Posted on 10 May 2006
Digital Rights Ireland have published a post about the rights of photographers in our fair isle. It’s a detailed post that shows some of the differences between the rights a photographer might expect here and abroad.
I find it troubling that the Minister for Justice says “that the private interactions of a person – even in a public place – may be covered by the right to privacy”. This could include shopping or meeting someone for a coffee, even if it’s in the street and in a public place! His opinion will help shape the upcoming privacy bill, is this a facet of the bill? If a person expects privacy they shouldn’t be on the street in full view of potentially hundreds of people. Settle into a nice warm cafe and out of the wind!
A few days ago, I asked, “do I need a model release?” Maybe in Ireland the question should be, do I even have the right to photograph someone in public?
6 responses to Photographer’s Rights in Ireland
Amazing stuff. You might not, in future, be able to photograph anyone else without their permission. Perhaps the state will apply the same rules to your number plate when they’re busy taking photos of them in public. I’m about to start a rant, but it’s best not to!
[...] in Quebec in effect made street photography illegal in Canada. Here in Ireland, photographers do have the right to photograph people, but if the subjects have an expectation of privacy then you’re not [...]
[...] she wants rather than protecting her privacy. (Is there a difference?) I covered the issue in the past, where things could be a little different in Ireland – the expectation of privacy extends to a [...]
[...] moons ago I linked to this article on photographers rights in Ireland but it’s worth revisiting again because of [...]
[...] I blogged previously about photographer’s rights in Irelnd but it appears that UK Police are ignorant of those rights which are similar to Ireland’s. I [...]
There’s an excellent article about photographers’ rights in Australia here if you’re interested in a comparison. It’s about NSW in particular but most of it generally applies to the rest of the country. There are some links at the bottom to similar articles for other countries.
In short, photographers generally aren’t restricted much by the law here, but there are the usual gung-ho security guards and police officers who seem to believe in non-existent photography bans.
My experience is that you’re more likely to be hassled by a member of the public than by the authorities.