Ex-parachute instructor to get defamation compensation

A former chief parachute instructor has been given a High Court apology and is to be paid compensation over defamatory material circulated about him by the Irish Aviation Authority.

Paul McMahon, former chief instructor with the Irish Parachute Club, sued the authority over a February 2013 letter and an August 2014 report which contained the false allegations.

The case opened on Thursday before a judge and jury who heard the authority had accepted it defamed him in the 2014 report but was fighting the case on the basis that it was published without malice.