Smyth writes back in row over departure

The continuing row between journalist Sam Smyth and media owner Denis O’Brien took a further twist yesterday when Mr Smyth took exception to the view expressed by Today FM CEO Peter McPartlin that his enforced departure from the radio station was due to falling listener figures and not because of influence exercised by Mr O’Brien.

In a letter to The Irish Times, Mr Smyth questioneds Mr McPartlin’s capacity to make such comments, saying that as he was not employed by Today FM when the journalist left in 2011, “he has no direct and contemporaneous knowledge of the circumstances that led to my departure”.

A preceding letter by Mr McPartlin was written in response to an inference by columnist Vincent Browne that Mr Smyth’s departure was part of a campaign conducted against him by Mr O’Brien and Leslie Buckley, the media owner’s representative on the board on INM, which publishes the Irish Independent.