€1.87m O’Reilly payout defended

The board of Independent News and Media (INM) was within its legal rights to make a €1.87m payment to Gavin O’Reilly to secure his agreement to stand down as chief executive, the Commercial Court was told yesterday.

But lawyers for a non-executive director of INM, who brought a legal challenge to the payment, insists the law states that payments of this type are prohibited.

Paul Connolly, a Denis O’Brien-nominee to the INM board, says the payment should first have been put to a general meeting of shareholders in accordance with Section 186 of the Companies Act 1963.