Irish Examiner reporters scoop justice awards

IRISH EXAMINER reporters Noel Baker and Cormac O’Keeffe are among the winners of this year’s annual Justice Media Awards.

Organised by the Law Society of Ireland, the award in the daily newspaper category was won by Mr Baker for his article which focused on “children on the margins”.

This investigative piece looked at the legal implications for parents who are failing to ensure that their children are attending school and the effect that budgetary cuts might have on decisions taken by the National Education Welfare Board to pursue such cases through the courts.

Mr Baker, whose reportage covers a wide range of issues, followed one case – that of the parents of a 13-year-old girl who refused to attend school, who were convicted and fined just a year after they had been convicted and fined for failing to ensure that their son attended school. These were the first parents to be convicted twice for failing to ensure that their children attended school.

Speaking at the awards ceremony yesterday, the past-president of the Law Society, John D Shaw, said: “Journalists put significant effort into preparing articles that help to inform and educate Irish citizens on the role of law in society, for which they are to be commended. These awards were established to recognise the significant role that journalists play in informing the public about legal matters.”

Irish Examiner editor Tim Vaughan said the awards underlined the importance of the newspaper’s commitment to campaigning journalism on matters of real importance to people’s lives.

“It’s great to get this type of acknowledgement for what we do and I am delighted for Noel and Cormac, who are no strangers to receiving awards for their excellent journalism,” he said.

The winner of the Justice Media Award in the newspaper court reporting category went to the Irish Examiner’s Mr O’Keeffe for his article: “The John Kinsella case”.

Mr O’Keeffe, winner of the Overall Justice Media Award in 2008, was commended for the article which was described as “concise, very clearly written and firmly placed the spotlight on the most salient elements of a fascinating case, which was heard in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court”. This case involved a former Irish super heavyweight boxing champion, John Kinsella, who received a 12-year sentence for conspiring with others to import a multi-million euro consignment of drugs into Ireland.

Among the other award winners was Ann Murphy of the Evening Echo who won in the Regional Newspaper Category for her series on “Ireland’s future: our juvenile offenders”.

A Certificate of Merit was awarded to Ian Kehoe of The Sunday Business Post for his series of articles: “Developers in the dock” described by the judging panel as “a wonderful insight into the court proceedings surrounding the cases of developers who have used the courts to try to protect their property empires”.

“Notwithstanding the commendable standard of winning entries in each category, no single entry stood out from the rest, so no ‘overall award’ was presented this year,” the panel stated.