Court hears FG senator suing local paper over report which he claims likened him to a 'highway robber'

A Fine Gael politician claims he was defamed when likened to an 18th century highway robber in a report in a local newspaper of comments by a fellow FG TD about boundary changes in south Kilkenny, the High Court has heard.

Paudie Coffey, a former TD and former Minister of State for the Environment, now a Senator, is suing Iconic Newspapers, publishers of the article in the Kilkenny People on January 15, 2016.