Media fail in libel appeal

JURIES in libel trials are to remain free to award plaintiffs as much damages as they see fit after a European court dismissed a claim by Irish newspapers and RTÉ that a failure to set limits could lead to unfairly high payouts.

The European Court of Human Rights made its ruling in a challenge to the decision of the Irish courts to allow an award of €381,000 (£300,000) to Labour MEP Proinsias de Rossa in 1997 in an action he took over a Sunday newspaper article.

The award, the biggest ever made in a libel case in Ireland, together with legal fees and expenses, cost Independent News and Media more than €1 million.

The company, backed by submissions from the Irish Examiner, all the other major newspaper groups and RTÉ, took the case to Europe against the State for failure to build into the law safeguards against disproportionately high awards.

In a statement following the ruling, Independent Newspapers managing editor Michael Denieffe expressed disappointment.

“Under the current libel laws, some of the information the public is receiving is many years after its sell-by date and requires costly Tribunals of Inquiry to expose,” he said.

“As a result, news reporting in Ireland has been restricted by the excessive threat of legal action.”

The de Rossa case arose from an article written in the Sunday Independent in December 1992 by Eamon Dunphy which, a High Court jury found, implied Mr de Rossa had been involved or supported activities of a criminal nature while in the Workers Party.

The High Court verdict was upheld on appeal to the Supreme Court in 1999.