Attack by newspaper 'took my name away and my family's good name': Senator Paudie Coffey

A parliamentary assistant to former TD Paudie Coffey advised in the run-up to the last general election that he should remain focused on trying to win his seat rather than deal immediately with a response to a newspaper article which was allegedly defamatory, the High Court has heard.

Paul Fox, who worked as assistant and advisor to the then deputy, now Senator Coffey, said the Kilkenny People article of January 2016 was "was certainly not going to help" the election campaign over the following few weeks.