Gerry Adams says BBC 'out of sync' with Good Friday Agreement after being awarded €100,000 in libel case
FORMER Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has said the BBC is 'out of sync' with the Good Friday Agreement after winning a libel case against the broadcaster.
Mr Adams was awarded €100,000 (£84,000) by a jury after it found he had been defamed in a 2016 Spotlight programme and accompanying online article.
Both had reported an anonymous source alleging that Mr Adams had sanctioned the 2006 killing of Denis Donaldson, four months after the former Sinn Féin member was revealed to be an informer for the police and MI5.
The BBC said it was disappointed by verdict, while Mr Donaldson's daughter has called for a public inquiry into his murder.
With the Spotlight programme having been viewed in Ireland, Adams' case was heard at the High Court in Dublin, with High Court libel cases in the state still using use a jury to determine a verdict.
Speaking outside the court on Friday, the 76-year-old said his decision to take the case was about 'putting manners on the British Broadcasting Corporation'.
Mr Adams was awarded €100,000 (Image: Charles McQuillan / Getty Images)
"I know many, many journalists and I like to think that I get on well with most of them," he added.
"I wish you well and I would uphold your right to do your job.
"But the British Broadcasting Corporation upholds the ethos of the British state in Ireland and in my view, it's out of sync on many fronts with the Good Friday Agreement.
"It hasn't caught on to where we are on this island as part of the continuing process of building peace, justice, harmony and — hopefully in the time ahead — unity."
"I'm very mindful that this case could have been settled," he added.
"The licence payers are going to pay for this. The BBC aren't using their own money, Spotlight aren't using their own money, it's the licence payers.
"As [solicitor] Paul Tweed has said, this could have been sorted out a long time ago."
The BBC reports that the legal bill for the case is believed to be between €3-5m. 'Important that we defend our journalism'
Adam Smyth, Director of BBC Northern Ireland, said the broadcaster had made 'financial provision' for the case but warned the verdict could have 'profound' repercussions for journalism.
"We are disappointed by this verdict," he said.
"We believe we supplied extensive evidence to the court of the careful editorial process and journalistic diligence applied to this programme and accompanying online article.
"Moreover, it was accepted by the court, and conceded by Gerry Adams' legal team, that the Spotlight broadcast and publication were of the highest public interest.
"We didn't want to come to court, but it was important that we defend our journalism and we stand by that decision.
"Our past is difficult terrain for any jury and we thank them for their diligence and careful consideration of the issues in this case.
"The implications of their decision, though, are profound.
Adam Smyth, Director of BBC Northern Ireland, speaking outside court (Image: Charles McQuillan / Getty Images)
"As our legal team made clear, if the BBC's case cannot be won under existing Irish defamation law, it's hard to see how anyone's could. And they warned that today's decision could hinder freedom of expression.
"Of course, a case of this importance, duration and complexity involves significant expense. In common with other media organisations the BBC has insurance and makes financial provision for ongoing and anticipated legal claims."
Last year's Defamation (Amendment) Bill had sought to abolish juries in High Court defamation cases, potentially reducing the amount of damages awarded.
It had lapsed when the last government was dissolved in November but was reintroduced by the current government and is currently at the Committee stage.
The Standard reports that Mr Donaldson's daughter Jane said that by taking the defamation case, Adams had 'trivialised our family tragedy'.
"The plaintiff prioritised his own financial and reputational interests over any regard for retraumatising my family," she said, as she called for a public inquiry into her father's murder.
See More: BBC, Denis Donaldson, Gerry Adams, Spotlight
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, June 3rd: On Arts Council funding, disappearing fish and czars
Sir, – At the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on May 29th, Deputy Joanna Byrne of Sinn Féin made the observation that Arts Grant Funding (AGF) seems to disproportionately favour Dublin-based companies over regional arts initiatives. The Director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly's response was to point to increased funding to arts centres throughout the State and the impressive number of touring weeks that companies like Irish National Opera (INO) undertake throughout the year. If I may say so, this is far from the full picture. Funding the running of arts centres is one thing but you only have to look at their programmes to see that there is a preponderance of commercial and community/amateur arts events over professional funded arts programming. READ MORE So the availability of regionally grown professional arts events and productions is key to addressing this programming imbalance. Parachuting in touring theatre and opera from Dublin, while occasionally welcome, contributes very little to the ecology of the regional arts. As a client of the Arts Council going back 40 years or more and encompassing my time as artistic director of Opera Theatre Company (a forerunner to INO) and artistic director of the Abbey, both Dublin-based companies, and latterly as a former director of the Theatre Royal, Waterford, it has long been my contention that properly resourcing regional professional arts initiatives and companies is an important way of ensuring the fair spatial distribution of arts funding. My views on this are well known at the Arts Council. Most recently I wrote to the director and chair with support from 20 of my colleagues to reiterate this point. Properly resourcing regional arts will allow professional artists to work and live – if only for part of the time – in the place of their choosing rather than necessarily gravitating to places of higher population for all of their work. As we know there is a broader societal trend of people moving away from large urban centres for a less expensive and better quality of life. By way of example, Four Rivers, a Wexford-based initiative, was funded by the Arts Council from 2021-2024 to prioritise working with southeast based artists, or artists with connections to the region. We foregrounded new and established work and engaged in partnerships – primarily with Wexford Arts Centre and the National Opera House – to provide professional theatre in the southeast. Our grant-in-aid was modest but welcome and by 2024 allowed us to produce three good quality productions annually. That year we increased our audiences to in excess of 90 per cent of capacity – the figures are available and audited – and yet the outcome of our Arts Council funding application for 2025 – with the same mix of work and priorities that were successfully funded from 2021-2024 – inexplicably went from €205,000 to zero. When we requested an explanation we were told that the award was 'very competitive' and other applications were 'more compelling'. Which really told us nothing. The momentum we had thus built up was, and is, in danger of being squandered. In developing a new strategy to replace Great Art Works, the Arts Council needs to be mindful of the development and sustaining of regional professional arts companies in theatre and other disciplines that are embedded in their communities and not only provide employment to artists but help provide the kind of programming to arts centres that is currently largely unavailable to them. – Yours, etc, BEN BARNES, New Ross, Co Wexford. Panda's eyes Sir, – I've just received an email from Panda (my 'chosen home recycling partner') informing me that from June 12th the company's collection trucks 'will photograph and identify misplaced items within your bins'. Presumably, all its customers have received similar notification. As a result of this initiative, can we expect to see a marked increase in the sale of heavy-duty, black refuse sacks – the type that a standard camera cannot see through? – Yours, etc, PAUL DELANEY, Dalkey. Investing in education Sir, – David McWilliams (' Ireland is making progress, one mortar board at a time,' Weekend, May 31st) writes that 'Education is the best way out of poverty. Education today is an investment in tomorrow'. I fully concur. Access to educational resources on computers improves the quality of education delivered and outcomes for students. This access is often not affordable for young people living below the poverty line. However, in Ireland, hundreds of thousands of computers are replaced every year but only a small percentage are assessed for reuse as a resource to enhance young people's education and their life prospects. They are instead recycled when, alternatively, if assessed for reuse they could have a valuable social impact in improving young people's education. It is time for the Government to urge commercial and public sector organisations to consider the reusability of retired IT assets as an education resource instead of merely choosing the less environmentally friendly option of recycling. – Yours, etc, MARK FOX, Dublin 18. Striking a czar note Sir, – One of the more amusing aspects of current debates is the proliferation of the term 'czar', a rather curious moniker in this day and age. There are suggestions that Dublin could do with a 'night czar' while plans are afoot to entrust Ireland's accommodation problem to a 'housing czar', no less. Perhaps anybody seriously considering applying for the thankless task of tackling and solving the housing issue would do well to reflect on the fate which through the ages has befallen people who have borne the title of 'czar' in its myriad linguistic variations. Julius Caesar came to a sticky end in Rome, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate and flee into a very comfortable exile, while his first World War ally, Kaiser Karl I of Austria-Hungary, was banished to a considerably less comfortable sojourn far from home. Their joint foe on the Eastern Front, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, was assassinated, together with all his family and servants, in a cellar in the Urals and, during a later conflict, Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria may have died further to an Adolf Hitler-inspired plot using a sophisticated method of poisoning. Touch wood that, if and when a lady or gentleman is duly appointed to do battle with the housing dragon, the title bestowed shall be neither 'Tsarina' nor 'Tsar' but the rather more utilitarian, if slightly less exotic, 'Director or Head of Housing'. And, when the time comes, the good wishes of all shall be with anybody brave enough to get into the saddle and ride off into battle. – Yours, etc, STEPHEN O'SULLIVAN, Paris, France. Sir. – I have to agree with Graham Doyle, secretary general at the Department of Housing, a housing tsar is not required. What would be more appropriate is a High King of Housing in Ireland who could rule rather than reign over a new house building kingdom. – Yours, etc, DERMOT O'ROURKE, Lucan, Dublin. Ireland and Israeli bonds Sir, – Notwithstanding the Irish Government's recent defeat of a Private Members' Bill attempting to block the trade in Israeli bonds facilitated through the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), that institution has been remiss when reviewing the previous Israeli prospectus and must now insist that any future prospectus be truly comprehensive. Since 2021, the CBI has approved our prospectuses to enable Israel to issue bonds within the EU. Gabriel Makhlouf, governor of CBI, has previously defended the approval of Israel's prospectus documentation stating that, as a competent authority of the EU Central Bank, the CBI must approve any prospectus for a bond issue that is clear, comprehensible, comprehensive and fulfils all necessary criteria as laid down in the annexes contained in legislation. However, the last prospectus provided by Israel was far from comprehensive in several of the sections that are key to the approval. For a bond prospectus to be approved, the issuer must provide a comprehensive list of risks that may impact investors' return on the bonds. Up to 2024, Israeli prospectuses have laid out various security, economic, wartime and political risks that might impact the state's ability (or desire) to repay investment in the bonds. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found it plausible that Israel's acts could amount to genocide and issued six provisional measures, ordering Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts, including preventing and punishing incitement to genocide, ensuring aid and services reach Palestinians under siege in Gaza, and preserving evidence of crimes committed in Gaza. This interim statement from the ICJ issued a caution to the state of Israel that the court shall continue to evaluate the case against Israel and subsequently deliver its final decision. However, section 2 (Risks) of Israel's prospectus, approved by CBI in September 2024, made no mention of the risk of an adverse finding by the ICJ against Israel or the possibility of international sanctions against Israel based on evidence of the IDF's conduct in Gaza and the West Bank. For this reason, it could not be considered to contain a 'comprehensive' list of risks. In addition, section 8 'Use of Proceeds' contains only the following sentence: 'The net proceeds from the issue of the Bonds are intended to be used for the general financing purposes of the Issuer.' This bland formula was accepted by the CBI despite the sections entitled 'Description of the Issuer' and 'Recent Events' being full of references to Israel's 'war' efforts. The Israeli government may not wish to acknowledge that it is 'in the dock' before the ICJ, that the ICJ may find it guilty of committing genocide and that countries may consequently impose sanctions against Israel. Regardless of the ICJ's final decision, which may take years to arrive, any sovereign country or their private citizens may decide to boycott Israeli goods and services. That such risks may be embarrassing to Israel and may draw attention to its increasing isolation in international relations should be of no concern to the Central Bank of Ireland. These factors represent additional risks to investors in the bonds and should be present in any comprehensive prospectus relating to the bond issue. Israel's bond issue expires at the end of August and must be renewed in September. As a competent authority of the EU, the Central Bank of Ireland must insist that the prospectus be comprehensive, whether or not the bond issuer loses face through that completeness. It behoves Mr Makhlouf to ensure the CBI fulfils its responsibilities to the full. – Yours, etc, Cllr JOHN HURLEY, Social Democrat, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Co Dublin. Sir, – I'm hoping the Taoiseach and Tánaiste will have read Mark O'Connell's excellent piece in Saturday's paper (' I walked through the fire all by myself'' – this is barbarism' , Opinion, May 31st). The rawness of the piece and how it exposes the complicit impotence of western governments to what is happening in Gaza is powerful. It holds in contrast the EU's rapid reaction to Russia's aggression in Ukraine to its paralysis at the Israeli genocide in Gaza. If our leaders really cared about international law and the future of a viable Palestinian state, they would be working day and night to enact the Occupied Territories Bill before the summer recess, and pushing others in the EU to do the same. – Yours, etc, BARRY WALSH, Blackrock, Cork. Biodiversity and housing Sir, – Paul O'Shea's excellent letter ( Letters, May 31st ) argues that as well as the issue of house-building, climate change still needs to be urgently addressed, such as by improving rural land use. Although new urban and suburban house planning and building address climate change in some ways, there is siloed thinking that excludes serious attention to how biodiversity could be improved while providing housing. Even a prescription for one fruit tree or bee-friendly plant per housing unit would help instead of acres of gravel and occasional token vegetation. – Yours, etc, TRICIA CUSACK, Co Wicklow. Disappearing mackerel Sir, – Katie Mellett reported on the collapse of whale-watching off the Cork coast ( 'It's an empty, lifeless sea: Whales leave Cork waters, putting watchers out of business,' May 29th ). Colm Barnes, an experienced fisherman, explained to her that almost all the whales have disappeared because their food source, sprat, are being fished out by huge fishing vessels. We have been fishing for mackerel for 40 years on Kenmare Bay, a Special Area of Conservation. The mackerel have disappeared for the same reason. They feed on sprat, as you can see when you gut them. In recent years in winter, huge fishing vessels sweep the bay in pairs, with massive fine mesh nets held between them. It is obvious that they are contributing to destroying the mackerel fishery in the bay, affecting small-scale fishing which is important to locals and visitors, doing untold damage there and beyond in the open sea. One other consequence has been the virtual disappearance of the magnificent gannets from the upper bay and it's likely that other diving birds have been affected. The well publicised and ongoing destruction of this special area has been tolerated for some years by the authorities, ignoring their stated commitment to conservation. For example, it has been highlighted by the UCC Green Campus Group and by the brilliant transition year students from Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine, Kenmare, who have produced an informative and evocative video. We are delighted to learn that Minister of State for Fisheries and the Marine Michael Healy-Rae is taking up this matter. We hope he will listen especially carefully to the young people of Ireland who are telling us to ban industrial fishing from Irish inshore waters now. – Yours, etc, DAVID and JANET MCCONNELL, CATHERINE FAYEN, DAVE and CHERRIE LOWE, DAVID O'SULLIVAN, BRYAN MAYBURY, FIONA THORNTON, Co Kerry. Name change Sir, – My original surname was three letters long. I wished I'd had a longer one. On marriage, almost 50 years ago, my wish was granted. The difference is unbelievable! – Yours, etc, RUTH GILL, Birr, Co Offaly. Going grey Sir, – Is a grey squirrel not an old red squirrel? (Squirrel spotting, Letters, June 2nd ). – Yours, etc, EUGENE TANNAM, Dublin.
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Munster a victim of pure sh*thousery in Durban - writes One F in Foley
Munster didn't deserve to beat Sharks in normal time in Durban, nor did they show enough to win in extra-time. But they didn't deserve to be treated to extraordinary sh*thousery in the shoot-out, specifically as Jack Crowley lined up the fourth of his side's six kicks at Tullow Tank AKA Sean O'Brien delighted in telling anyone who would listen that the advent of 28 and more TV cameras at big matches had more or less done away with players attempting anything underhand. Sh*thousery (British slang, def: 'underhand conduct or gamesmanship, playing dirty, using questionable tactics to win, being a skilful opportunist') is a good word for the King's Park goings on and Jaden Hendrikse deserves ownership of it too. So while the Sharks' no9 didn't do anything illegal when, following kicking his penalty he collapsed to the turf and, claiming immobilising cramp, refused to budge, interfering with Crowley's preparation and taking of his basked in a variety of individuals arriving to stretch his calf, chatting to the referee presumably to point out how helpless he was, and taking time to apparently wink knowingly at Crowley - all which ever-so blatantly caught on camera - was not against Rugby it was Crowley kept his nerve, even if his wounded-duck kick somehow managed to reassert itself and get through posts but he was clearly raging at Hendrikse after the match had ended. You didn't have to be a lip-reader to recognise one phrase repeated over and over Saturday's referee Mike Adamson looked indecisive as the tension ramped up but, says a former World Cup, Six Nations, Rugby Championship, Heineken Cup and Celtic League referee and on who played the game at a very, very high standard too: "There is not a lot the referee can do but if you want to stay with the values of the game, that was something that should have been avoided - could the player have fallen a bit further away, even crawled a little bit out of the picture? "I think the authorities have to look at the attitude of the Sharks players and the management but that's an after-the-event occurrence and won't affect a result. "The player definitely had a cramp, you can see clearly that his leg is cramping in the TV footage so that is not a lie but the referee was never going to order the ambulance-buggy to come on. "The player hadn't broken his leg, he had cramp and if the buggy had been called on it would have added to the bullshit and drama. "Plus, and here is a thing we don't know, what was said between those two players earlier in the game, there was a lot going on."Munster, and long suffering Munster fans with memories of Neil Back and of Lille, have few options other than being pissed off."They can make a complaint in writing to the URC, and address it to the Referees Manager. "Can the Sharks player be cited? I don't know but I'd say 'no'. Have you ever heard of a player being cited for giving a bit of 'lip' to another guy. I've never seen it at the professional level, not for 'lip'."I'd have great sympathy with Jack Crowley and it is part of their being too much bullshit going on in the modern game, captains are getting involved too much, there are too many people calling for TMO reviews and making gestures demanding yellow cards for opposition players..."Meanwhile Leinster's South African coach Jacques Nienaber says it just an unfortunate by-product of the modern rugby world, noting generally of sh*thousery:"It's something that happens in the game from minute one to minute 80. There's banter and trying to get under a guy's skin and trying to physically impose yourself on him and try and rub his hair."I mean that happens for 80 minutes, so in this case it was for everyone to see because it's not as secluded as what will be in a game. But it happens in a game."Think of Pete (O'Mahony), what did he tell Sam Cane? I mean, that banter flys. If you listen to just the referee mic and you take the commentators away, it's crazy what you hear on that mic. They got stuck into each other. It's just normal."There were some other takeaways, Sharks looked better prepared for the shootout part of the game something, incidentally, Leinster have been giving consideration too in recent weeks.'It's something that's been living with a team since Europe when we went to the round 16, and it's the same format in the URC. "So it's not something that's not being discussed or planned or detailed. It's something that's been living with a team for over two months, definitely something you talk through."We practice both the kicks and the scenario. Everybody understands their role, who's going to kick, that obviously changed with the team against Zebre, didn't have the same players against Glasgow, didn't have the same players last week.'It is not a question of being a fan of the shoot-out or not, it exists."That's the format that's given to you. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing. I think fans love it and I think from a spectator view it's brilliant. I enjoyed it. I loved it. But I don't want to be the team that does it.'The first one I saw was Munster against Toulouse three years ago in Europe. That was the first time I actually saw it and both times that I've witnessed it. I think it grabs your attention but I would probably say something different if I'm in that team.'And while not suggesting here that Munster were quite Mick McCarthy who having lost a shoot-out looked incredulously at a reporter who had asked had his side practiced penalties (they hadn't!).It was that the Sharks kickers seemed very assured, had better rhythm, looked like everyday kickers at agreed albeit with some 'inside' information: 'Yeah. So the guy, Bradley Davids, who kicked the last kick was my son's roommate at school. He was the kicker for the school. You might know it, because he's only a young guy, he's 22 coming through the ranks.'
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
I held hand of Scottish gangster as he lay dying after Costa del Sol shooting
A British nurse has recounted the harrowing moment she comforted a dying Scottish gangster after he was shot in a brutal double murder on the Costa del Sol. The woman, in her 50s, was enjoying a drink with her partner at a nearby pub when masked assailant fatally shot Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr amidst shocked holidaymakers. The attack occurred at Monaghans bar in Fuengirola around 11.30pm on Saturday, just as the Champions League final concluded. The nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, described how she sprang into action upon hearing the gunfire: "I was sitting with my partner in a pub when we heard one shot followed by a gap and then four more shots. We all ran into the bar and I was shouting 'get inside'." She continued, explaining the initial confusion: "At the time they were celebrating the football because the game had just ended. Someone said a person had been shot and because I'm a nurse I ran to Monaghans bar to see if I could help." Spanish TV has since aired graphic footage of Monaghan attempting to flee his assassin. The video, taken shortly after Lyons Jnr, 46, was slain outside the establishment, captures Monaghan, aged 43, bleeding through his white T-shirt from a chest injury, trying to steady himself on a table before collapsing. Surveillance footage from the scene shows the killer, clad in black, pursuing Monaghan. Two individuals, believed to be a waitress and another man also in black, are seen fleeing from the gunman, reports the Mirror. The nurse recounted the harrowing scene, saying: "I got to the first person who was lying on his back on the terrace who I later discovered was Eddie Lyons Jnr. He was clearly dead and had what appeared to be a bullet wound in his chest and one in his abdomen. A bar lady told me there was another one in the bar." Describing the second victim, she said: "The other man, Ross, had one shot in his chest, just on the right side. He was lying on the floor and was still alive but his breathing was laboured. He was wearing a white T-shirt and shorts and trainers and he looked younger than 43." She detailed the grim aftermath: "There was blood everywhere, on the floor and around the service hatch to the kitchen. There was nothing I could do, he wasn't bleeding from his mouth so I just held his hand, stroked his hair and waited for the emergency services." It emerged that Monaghan had an exit wound in his back where the bullet had passed through his body. The nurse noted that armed police were first to respond, moving him into the recovery position and then administering CPR. Monaghan, reportedly the bar's owner, was implicated in the 2010 murder of Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll in Robroyston, Glasgow, although charges against him were eventually dropped. After surviving a shooting in Glasgow in 2017, Monaghan moved to Spain. Spanish authorities have yet to make any arrests in connection with the double homicide at the pub in Fuengirola. A spokesperson stated on Monday: "The investigation is continuing into the fatal shooting of two men at a pub in Fuengirola, with nothing new at the moment."
