Press Council decision

A letter was published in the Irish Examiner on 27 November 2014 under the heading “Solicitors’ tribunal only censured solicitor for failing to write a letter”. 

The letter was signed by Senator Colm Burke of Colm Burke and Company Solicitors and referred to a report published in the previous day’s Irish Examiner on the findings of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal which had found the firm “guilty of misconduct in his practice”.

The complainant believed that the heading of the letter “constituted a misleading statement and was distorted” and was neither “true nor accurate”. The complainant claimed the publication of the letter constituted a breach of Principle 2 - Distinguishing Fact and Comment, Principle 3 – Fairness and Honesty, Principle 4 – Respect for Rights, Principle 5 – Privacy and Principle 7 – Court Reporting.