O’Reilly: I had no input in ‘payback’ editorial

THE OWNER of the Irish Independent, Dr Tony O’Reilly, denied having any responsibility for the Payback Time editorial on the front page of the newspaper on the day of the 1997 General Election.

The editorial urged voters to pay the coalition back for bleeding them dry on taxation. Readers were urged to defeat the Fine Gael-led Rainbow Coalition.

This editorial had nothing to do with him, Dr O’Reilly, chairman of Independent News and Media (IN&M), said yesterday. All his editors were independent, he said. Neither he nor members of the board of IN&M had any input into the decision.