Clean bill of health for Irish media

A SENATOR yesterday called on Irish news outlets to declare they had not engaged in phone hacking or any other illegal practice as senior industry figures said the Irish media had a clean bill of health.

Senator Susan O’Keeffe, a former investigative journalist, said the revelations of phone hacking regarding the News Of The World “was without doubt, unethical, deplorable and illegal” and a practice that seemed to “become a matter of routine”.

Ms O’Keeffe said she had “no reason whatsoever to believe that any Irish newsrooms followed the News of the World lead in this regard”, but said clarification from the heads of news outlets would help put the public’s mind at ease.