Defamed jeweller gets €50k award

A schoolteacher in Loreto College, Foxrock, Co Dublin, has been directed by a judge to pay €50,000 damages to a Dunlaoghaire jeweller he made defamatory remarks about.

It was the maximum that Judge Jacqueline Linnane could have awarded Breasal Ó Caollaí, who told her that what former friend and neighbour Michael O’Flaherty had said about him could have ruined his business.

Ó Caollaí, of Royal Terrace West, Dunlaoghaire, told the Circuit Civil Court Mr O’Flaherty had told staff in the National Maritime Museum in Dunlaoghaire, of which he was a director, that he had effectively taken money from the tills.

Barrister William Binchey, counsel for Mr Ó Caollaí, said that on three occasions, Mr O’Flaherty, of Northumberland Ave, Dunlaoghaire, had “made utterances which meant Mr Ó Caollaí was an incompetent businessman on the take and engaging in dishonest practices”.

Mr Binchey said Mr O’Flaherty had asked museum staff Bianca Drumm and Linda Carroll, “does Breasal take money from the coffee shop takings” and “does he take cash from the till”.

He had also suggested to another staff member that he “supposed Breasal had taken the proceeds” of an art exhibition.

Mr Ó Caollaí told the court that he owned a jewellery shop in Northumberland Ave, Dunlaoghaire, not far from Mr O’Flaherty’s home.

He had asked him to help with the museum and he had been elected treasurer at an annual general meeting. They had been friends, but eventually Mr O’Flaherty had developed a grudge against him for some unknown reason.

“He would just grunt when we passed on the street and I was dumbfounded when he suggested to museum staff that I was a thief and a robber, which was totally outrageous,” Mr Ó Caollaí said.

Mr Ó Caollaí said there was absolutely no basis for the statements by Mr O’Flaherty that he had his hand in the till. Customer trust and a good reputation in the jewellery business was critical.

“Mere rumour could put you out of business. I had asked my solicitor Kevin O’Higgins to seek an apology and an undertaking from Mr O’Flaherty not to repeat the statements, which would have settled the matter. It was not forthcoming,” he said.

Mr O’Flaherty said he had been “aghast and astonished” when he had learned of the “complete fabrication” of the statements he was alleged to have made to Ms Drumm and Ms Carroll about Mr Ó Caollaí. None of them was true.

He said that at one stage as treasurer he had recommended tighter control of funds and lodgements.

Judge Linnane, awarding Mr Ó Caollaí €50,000 damages, said Ms Drumm and Ms Carroll had no reason to fabricate or invent their account of what had happened. Inferences had been cast on them by the defendant.