You have received a solicitor's letter about defamation: what it means and what to do

A letter from a solicitor saying that something you said, posted or wrote may be defamatory is designed to get your attention, and it usually does. This guide is written for the person, shop, employer or business who received one. It explains what the letter is, what it is not, what it is likely to ask for, how the next few weeks tend to go, and what it cost the other side to send it.

What the letter is, and what it is not

A solicitor's letter is a demand sent on behalf of a client. It is not a court order, it is not court proceedings, and it is not a finding that you defamed anyone. Nobody has decided anything yet. The letter sets out the other side's version of events: what you said, why they say it tends to injure their reputation, and what they want you to do about it.

Sending a letter does not commit the other side to going to court. Whether they do depends on your reply, their budget and their appetite for the costs risk described further down. Before a claim is issued, the plaintiff's solicitor must tell their client about alternative dispute resolution, on top of the duty in s.14 of the Mediation Act 2017, and the court can take each side's response to ADR into account when it fixes costs. So a letter that mentions mediation is not unusual, and a reply that engages with it is not a sign of weakness.

What it is likely to ask for

Most letters ask for some or all of the following:

• that you take the statement down, or stop repeating it
• an undertaking not to repeat it
• a correction or an apology, sometimes in a form and place the letter specifies
• compensation
• payment of the other side's legal costs of the letter
• that you keep any records relating to the statement
• a reply by a stated date

The date in the letter is the sender's deadline, not one set by the Act. Missing it does not of itself put you in the wrong, but it lets the other side say they gave you a chance before issuing. The deadline that matters in law is the one described next.

The deadline that actually matters

A defamation claim must be brought within one year of the date the cause of action accrued. For online material that is the date the statement was first capable of being viewed. The court can extend the limit to two years, but only where the interests of justice require it and the prejudice to the plaintiff of refusing would significantly outweigh the prejudice to you as defendant. The rule is in s.11 of the Statute of Limitations 1957, as inserted by s.38 of the 2009 Act.

The date on the letter therefore tells you something. A letter sent eleven months after the statement means the other side must issue proceedings within weeks or ask a court for more time. A letter sent a fortnight after the statement means they can afford to wait for your reply. The time-limit guide at Defamation time limit in Ireland and the accrual guide at When the defamation clock starts online cover the detail.

One cause of action covers every publication of the same statement by you to the public (Defamation Act 2009, s.11). But if you repeat the statement now, in a reply, in a new post or in a conversation about the letter, you create a fresh publication, and if someone else repeats it, their publication has its own clock and is their problem rather than yours.

What to do in the first few days

1. Read the whole letter twice. Note exactly which words are complained of, where they appeared, when, and who the letter says saw them. If the letter does not identify the exact statement, you are entitled to ask.
2. Keep a copy of everything before you change anything. Save the statement, the surrounding context, any replies, the audience it reached and your own notes on why you said what you said. If the statement is true, this is the material a truth defence under s.16 rests on. The evidence kit at the evidence kit walks through what to capture.
3. Decide about taking it down. Many people take the statement down while they consider their position, having kept a copy first. Leaving it up while the letter is unanswered is the choice the other side will point to later.
4. Do not reply in anger, repeat the statement or post about the letter. Anything you write now may be read out in court later. Do not contact the complainant directly with new comments about them.
5. Check who the complainant is. If it is a company, since 1 March 2026 it must show the statement caused, or is likely to cause, serious financial loss. The guide at Can a company sue for a bad review? Ireland 2026 explains that test.

Does the letter mean you defamed anyone?

No. For a claim to succeed the other side has to show the four things set out in s.6 of the Defamation Act 2009: a statement that tends to injure a person's reputation in the eyes of reasonable members of society, published to at least one person other than them, which identifies them or would be understood to refer to them. An individual does not have to prove financial loss. The guide at Four things to prove in a defamation claim takes each element in turn, and says which one is most often missing.

Even where all four are present, the Act gives you defences. The table shows the ones most often relevant to someone holding a letter.

The defences guide at Defamation defences in Ireland covers each one and what it needs in evidence. If you are a shop, the retail defence guide at Retail defamation Ireland: the 2026 shop defence is written for you. If the letter is about a review you wrote, see Sued over a review you wrote in Ireland.

The offer of amends

The Act gives a defendant a formal route to close a dispute early. An offer of amends under ss.22 and 23 contains three things: a correction, an apology, and compensation, either agreed between the parties or fixed by the court. If the offer is accepted, the dispute ends on those terms. If it is rejected, the offer becomes a defence at trial, unless you knew the statement was false when you made it. The court also weighs how each side behaved after an offer when it fixes costs, and the Supreme Court in Higgins v Irish Aviation Authority [2022] IESC 13 upheld a 10% reduction in damages where an offer of amends had been made.

Under s.24 an apology on its own is not an admission of liability. An offer of amends is a different, formal step with consequences for the whole case, so this guide describes what one contains and does not draft one. Preparing one is a solicitor's work. The guide at Defamation apology and offer of amends Ireland goes through the process step by step.

A related tool is the lodgment under s.29: a sum paid into court which, since 2026, no longer has to accompany the Defence. If the plaintiff goes to trial and recovers no more than the lodgment, the costs risk shifts onto them.

What the letter cost the other side, and what a reply costs you

Every figure in this section is a planning assumption, not a tariff. The letter in your hand probably cost the other side €300 to €1,000. The same assumption applies to a reply drafted by your own solicitor, at hourly rates the Irish Times put at €250 to €400 in April 2026. Opening a Circuit Court case is about €1,500 plus VAT and upwards, on one practitioner's published estimate. A contested Circuit Court trial is €10,000 to €30,000 a side, and the High Court is a multiple of that.

Costs follow the event. If the claim fails, the claimant normally pays your costs as well as their own; a €75,000 claim over an accusation of theft of a toy was dismissed with costs against the mother who brought it, as the Irish Examiner reported. If the claim succeeds, you pay damages and most of their costs. Most claims settle within the €75,000 Circuit Court limit, and the Supreme Court's bands in Higgins put moderate cases at €0 to €50,000. The reported awards are at the awards register and the cost guide at Defamation case cost in Ireland sets out the figures from the claimant's side.

Three further points about money. Defamation is excluded from civil legal aid under s.28(9) of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, on both sides. Solicitors may not charge a percentage of damages, and success-rate claims in advertising are banned under the LSRA Advertising Regulations 2020. Any solicitor you instruct must give you a written costs notice under s.150 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.

When to get your own solicitor

Not every letter needs one. A letter about a comment you are willing to remove, with no demand for money, may be dealt with by a short, civil reply. Most people instruct a solicitor when one or more of these is true:

• the letter demands money or an undertaking
• the deadline is days away
• the statement is still live, or reached a large audience
• you are a business or an employer, or the complainant is a company
• you cannot tell whether what you said was fact or opinion
• you want to make an offer of amends, which has consequences for the whole case
• the other side is represented and you are not

A solicitor's first job is to tell you, in writing, which defences you have and what defending or settling would cost, under the s.150 notice. That conversation is worth having before the letter's deadline rather than after it.

Where this leaves you

The letter is a demand, not a decision. Before you reply, gather the statement, its context, its audience and the facts behind it with the evidence kit at the evidence kit; that is the material every defence rests on. If the letter demands money, sets a deadline within days or comes from a company, the form at the solicitor page puts your situation in front of a solicitor who can tell you where you stand and what a reply or an offer of amends would cost.