The Press Ombudsman Peter Feeney has described the possibility that emails at Independent News & Media (INM) were accessed by an external company as “deeply disturbing”.

The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) will investigate whether personal data was accessed in the alleged data breach at Independent News and Media (INM).

Red Flag Consulting has disputed businessman Denis O’Brien’s claim he is entitled to know the identity of its client for a dossier of allegedly defamatory material about him, including describing him as “Ireland’s Berlusconi”.

Businessman Denis O'Brien has claimed a dossier about him was compiled by Red Flag Consulting for a client for a “hostile” motive and was part of a “campaign of defamation” intended to damage him.

The Red Flag consulting firm being sued by businessman Denis O’Brien has confirmed it had a client for a dossier of material relating to the businessman which he alleges is part of a conspiracy to damage him, the High Court has heard.

A judge has ordered various executives and staff of the Dublin-based Red Flag consulting firm being sued by billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien over alleged conspiracy to damage him to hand over for “forensic imaging” any personal computers and devices used by them for work purposes.

A dispute has erupted over whether the personal computers and devices, including mobile phones, of various executives and employees of the Red Flag Consulting firm must be submitted for “forensic imaging” by experts for businessman Denis O’Brien.

Efforts are continuing to try and reach agreement about the amount of computer material a Dublin-based consulting firm must provide for photographing by experts for businessman Denis O’Brien in legal proceedings against the firm.

A consulting company has told the High Court that billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien has left “clouded in mystery” exactly how material from the firm’s computer files ended up on a USB stick placed in an envelope sent anonymously to Mr O’Brien.

Former Independent News and Media executive Karl Brophy told the High Court yesterday he found a series of text messages from Denis O’Brien’s spokesman to be “bizarre and threatening”.

A former executive of Independent News and Media has launched a High Court action against the group claiming its biggest shareholder, Denis O’Brien, was behind the decision to oust him from his €300,000 job.

An Independent News and Media executive has told the High Court he imagined last year he would be first up against the wall with a blindfold on if Denis O'Brien took over the company.

An executive with Independent News and Media is in the High Court trying to stop his dismissal.

Injunction proceedings brought by an executive with Independent News and Media seeking to prevent his dismissal were adjourned yesterday.

An executive with Independent News and Media plc claims the company’s major shareholder, Denis O’Brien, was behind an allegedly unlawful attempt to oust him.

A senior executive at Independent News and Media has secured a temporary High Court injunction prohibiting his employers from taking any further steps to terminate his employment.