Judge: Journalist does not need to testify

The High Court has ruled that a journalist and a director of a charitable organisation do not have to give evidence as part of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in the US involving businessman Tony Quinn.

In a case that raised important issues concerning the protection of a journalist’s sources, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan set aside orders requiring Sunday World reporter Nicola Tallant and Mike Garde, a director of Dialogue Ireland, to give evidence before an Irish lawyer in Dublin as part of proceedings in Colorado.

The judge said both were entitled to avail of the protection of “journalistic privilege”, as envisaged under Article 40.6.1.i of the Constitution in order to protect sources of material both had written in connection with the US court case.