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Irish Times
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
BBC faces legal costs bill of more than €3m after jury finds it defamed Gerry Adams
The BBC is facing a legal costs bill of more €3 million after a High Court jury in Dublin found the broadcaster defamed Gerry Adams in a 2016 broadcast and related article, legal sources have said. The former Sinn Féin leader claimed the Spotlight programme and article defamed him by falsely accusing him of giving 'the final say' in the murder of MI5 informant Denis Donaldson at a cottage in Glenties, Co Donegal, in 2006. Mr Adams described the allegation during the trial as a 'grievous smear'. In finding he was defamed, the jury on Friday decided Mr Adams should be awarded €100,000 to vindicate and restore his reputation. Speaking outside court, Mr Adams said he took the case 'to put manners on the British Broadcasting Corporation', which he said 'upholds the ethos of the British state in Ireland'. READ MORE 'In my view, it's out of sync, in many, many fronts, with the Good Friday Agreement,' he said. Mr Adams called on Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan to meet Mr Donaldson's family and he said there was an onus on Irish and British governments to 'deal with these legacy issues as best we can'. He said he was 'very mindful' of the bereaved family during the trial. In a statement following the verdict, Jane Donaldson, daughter of the late Mr Donaldson, said Mr Adams had 'trivialised' her family's tragedy 'by reducing events which damaged our lives to debate about damage to his reputation'. He 'prioritised his own financial and reputational interests over any regard for retraumatising my family', she said. Ms Donaldson called for a public inquiry, with a cross-Border element, into her father's killing. 'We don't know who was involved, but we do need answers,' she said. Adam Smyth, director of BBC Northern Ireland, said the implications of the jury's decision were 'profound'. He thanked the jury, but expressed disappointment with the outcome. 'If the BBC's case cannot be won under existing Irish defamation law, it's hard to see how anyone's could,' he said. BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer O'Leary said she had 'nothing to hide, only sources to protect'. The High Court trial lasted for 21 days and the costs must now be paid by the BBC, which is primarily funded by TV licence fee payers in Britain and Northern Ireland. The jury decided the BBC was not entitled to the defence under the defamation law that the material was published in good faith or was fair and reasonable journalism. Austin Stack, whose father Brian Stack was murdered in Dublin by the IRA in the 1980s, said he was 'extremely disappointed' by the jury's decision. 'It makes a mockery of the 1,800 people that the IRA and the republican movement killed. It is a complete mockery. It is like spitting on 1,800 graves, giving that man that money.' Mr Stack's father was shot outside the Boxing Stadium on a street of South Circular Road, Dublin, in 1983, and died 18 months after the shooting. 'The Sinn Féin people will tell you, move on,' he said. 'But they have their commemorations, their memorials. They say everyone should be able to remember their dead, but that's everybody bar the dead that the IRA created.' Mr Stack was one of a number of witnesses the BBC wanted to call but the trial judge, Mr Justice Alexander Owens, decided were not relevant to what the jury had to decide. Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin said 'everybody has a right to their good name, and the allegation that was in the programme was very damaging, as today's verdict shows, for Gerry's reputation, particularly among his peers'. 'But the real issue here is that it highlights the fact that the Donaldson family still have not got the truth,' he said. Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson said the BBC had 'significant questions to answer.'
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Gerry Adams v BBC libel case: What the jury didn't hear
Jane Donaldson, daughter of the murdered British agent Denis Donaldson , was prevented from giving evidence during Gerry Adams 's defamation legal action against the BBC . Without the jury present, Ms Donaldson told Mr Justice Alexander Owens her family has an 'open mind' regarding who is responsible for her father's killing but does not believe the Real IRA's claim to it. The Real IRA claimed responsibility for Mr Donaldson's murder three years after his killing. On Friday, a jury found the BBC defamed Mr Adams by publishing a claim in 2016 that the former Sinn Féin leader gave the go-ahead for the Provisional IRA to kill Mr Donaldson in Glenties, Co Donegal, in 2006. The jury awarded Mr Adams €100,000 in damages. READ MORE Paul Gallagher SC, the BBC's barrister, sought to have Ms Donaldson admitted as a witness during the trial. He contended that Adams's legal side made a 'big play' about the Donaldson family's view about who is responsible for the murder. Mr Gallagher submitted they should be entitled to counter the evidence of Ciaran Shiels , a solicitor who previously represented the Donaldson family, on this issue. Earlier in the trial, Mr Shiels told the jury Mr Donaldson's family did not accept or believe Mr Adams had anything to do with his murder. Mr Adams's lawyers objected to Ms Donaldson being admitted as a witness. Mr Justice Owens did not admit Ms Donaldson's evidence, as he held that it was not relevant to the questions to be decided by the jury. The judge noted she could not recall discussing the allegation about Mr Adams with Mr Shiels. [ Denis Donaldson a 'victim' of Troubles and viewed as expendable by handlers, Gerry Adams says Opens in new window ] The BBC was also prevented from calling as witnesses historian Professor Eunan O'Halpin and campaigner Austin Stack, whose father Brian – a prison officer at Portlaoise Prison – was killed by the Provisional IRA in 1984. Led through her evidence by Mr Gallagher in the absence of the jury, Ms Donaldson referred to a recent statement she issued to a newspaper, stating: 'My family has made it publicly known that we never accepted the bogus claim of responsibility [for Mr Donaldson's killing], which lacks all credibility, by a single Real IRA source in 2009.' Asked by Mr Gallagher what her family's position is on who was responsible for the murder, Ms Donaldson said: 'Our position is that we have an open mind. We don't know who killed my father.' Asked by the judge about the Real IRA's claim, Ms Donaldson said that at the time, the family 'felt it didn't make sense'. She said details in their account 'didn't correlate' with sensitive and confidential information they had gathered from the Garda. Ms Donaldson said she couldn't recall having a conversation with Mr Shiels about the allegation made against Mr Adams. [ Justice for my Father by Austin Stack: An account of 40 years of relentless probing into prison officer's IRA murder Opens in new window ] She added that the family's view on who was responsible for the murder has 'evolved and changed over time'. 'I think we still had an open mind on it and we were reluctant to give a view on the matter [at the time of the broadcast],' she said. Ms Donaldson said Mr Shiels was never a spokesperson for the family, but did at times deal with the media on their behalf. Mr Shiels previously represented the family at inquest hearings. She said she had had no contact with Mr Shiels since 2019, and her family, as of earlier this year, no longer retained Madden and Finucane – Mr Shiels's firm – as their solicitors. Cross-examined by Tom Hogan SC, for Mr Adams, Ms Donaldson said her family was 'not in support' of either party involved in the defamation action. She said she was unaware of a meeting in April 2016 between Mr Shiels and journalist Jennifer O'Leary to discuss the Spotlight programme. [ BBC journalist behind Gerry Adams programme rejects claim she found 'yes men' to support killing claim Opens in new window ] Ms Donaldson accepted she was aware and told of a subsequent meeting in May to discuss the programme, attended by Mr Shiels, Ms O'Leary and Ms Donaldson's husband, Ciarán Kearney. In his evidence, Mr Adams said Declan Kearney, Ms Donaldson's brother-in-law, investigated Mr Donaldson when allegations first emerged that he was an informant. She accepted that following that meeting, Mr Shiels engaged in correspondence with the Spotlight team on behalf of the family. She also accepted Mr Shiels spoke for the family – 'as our solicitor' – in comments he made to the media directly after the broadcast of the Spotlight programme. Ms Donaldson told the judge that their family's focus was on pursuing the truth about the murder. She said that for 19 years, her family had been seeking information on who exposed Mr Donaldson as a British spy, and who conspired to murder him. She said it was a matter of public record that the identity of the British agent known as Stakeknife – the Belfast man and IRA member Freddie Scappaticci – was protected. Her father, however, was 'thrown to the wolves', she said. In a statement issued after the trial, Ms Donaldson said her family's tragedy was 'trivialised' by Mr Adams, who 'prioritised his own financial and reputational interests over any regard for traumatising my family'. 'No one spoke for my family in court,' she said. 'We supported neither side in this case.' She called for a public inquiry, with a cross-Border dimension, into her father's death.
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Gerry Adams awarded €100,000 in damages after winning defamation case against BBC
The BBC defamed Gerry Adams by publishing a claim that he sanctioned the murder of a British agent, a High Court jury has found, awarding the former Sinn Féin leader €100,000. Mr Adams had claimed that the 2016 Spotlight programme and related article defamed him by falsely accusing him of giving 'the final say' in the Provisional IRA's murder of MI5 informant Denis Donaldson at a cottage in Glenties, Co Donegal in 2006. Advertisement Mr Adams described the allegation during the trial as a 'grievous smear'. The BBC had denied defaming Mr Adams. The jury agreed, as Mr Adams pleaded, that words published in the programme and article were understood to mean he sanctioned and approved the murder. The broadcaster argued the claim against Mr Adams was couched as an allegation. The jury rejected the BBC's defence in the case – the broadcaster had argued the publication of the allegation was fair and reasonable, and in the public interest. The jury decided Mr Adams should be awarded €100,000 to vindicate and restore his reputation following the defamation. The verdict came on Friday, the 21st day of the case, which opened on April 29th. They spent about seven hours deliberating.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Gerry Adams awarded €100,000 after jury finds he was defamed by BBC broadcast and article
The BBC defamed Gerry Adams by publishing a claim that he sanctioned the murder of a British agent, a High Court jury has found, awarding the former Sinn Féin leader €100,000 in damages to restore his reputation. Mr Adams had claimed the 2016 Spotlight programme and a related article defamed him by falsely accusing him of giving 'the final say' in the Provisional IRA's murder of MI5 informant Denis Donaldson at a cottage in Glenties, Co Donegal in 2006. Mr Adams described the allegation during the trial as a 'grievous smear'. The jury agreed, as Mr Adams pleaded, that words published in the programme and article were understood to mean he sanctioned and approved the murder. The BBC had denied defaming Mr Adams, arguing that the claim about him was couched as an allegation. READ MORE However, the jury rejected the BBC's defence that the publication of the allegation was fair, reasonable and in the public interest. The jury decided Mr Adams should be awarded €100,000 to vindicate and restore his reputation following the defamation. The verdict came on Friday, the 21st day of the case, which opened on April 29th. The jury spent about seven hours deliberating. Mr Justice Alexander Owens had told the jury that at least nine of them must be in agreement in deciding the case. He had asked the jury to decide whether the words complained of by Mr Adams in the programme and article said he 'gave the okay for', or sanctioned, the murder of Mr Donaldson. It was the BBC's defence that the statements were couched as allegations . The judge said the jury should decide this question based on how a 'reasonable viewer' would interpret the words. If the jury believed the words mean Mr Adams sanctioned the murder, it must then consider the BBC's defence of fair and reasonable publication. The onus of proof in this defence is on the BBC, he said. Finally, if it rejects this defence, the judge said the jury must consider the amount of damages to award Mr Adams as compensation for the damage done to his reputation. Mr Adams's lawyers argued that he had the reputation of a 'peacemaker' and of helping to end violence in Northern Ireland. The BBC claimed Mr Adams's case is a 'cynical attempt' to 'launder' a reputation for being in the Provisional IRA and sitting on its decision-making body, known as the army council. The judge previously told the jury members they should only consider Mr Adams's reputation in the Republic of Ireland . He said they were not being asked what they think about Mr Adams or whether they approve of him. 'You decide what the evidence is in relation to his reputation.'
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Jury resumes deliberations in Gerry Adams' defamation case against BBC
The jury in Gerry Adams 's defamation action against the BBC has resumed its deliberations. The former Sinn Féin leader claims a BBC Spotlight programme and a related article published in 2016 defamed him by falsely accusing him of sanctioning the killing of British agent Denis Donaldson at a cottage in Glenties, Co Donegal , in 2006. He described the allegation as a 'grievous smear'. He insists he had no involvement in Mr Donaldson's death. Dissident republicans claimed responsibility for the killing in 2009. The BBC denies it defamed Mr Adams. READ MORE Mr Justice Alexander Owens previously told the jury at least nine of them must be in agreement in deciding the case. The jury began deliberating at about 10.25am on Thursday and concluded at 5.10pm. On Wednesday, Mr Justice Owens said the jury must decide whether the words complained of by Mr Adams in the programme and article say he 'gave the okay for', or sanctioned, the murder of Mr Donaldson. The BBC claims the words did not defame Mr Adams. It is the broadcaster's defence that the statements were couched as allegations . The judge said the jury should decide this question based on how a 'reasonable viewer' would interpret the words. If the jury finds the words mean Mr Adams sanctioned the murder, it must then consider the BBC's defence of fair and reasonable publication. The onus of proof in this defence is on the BBC, the judge said. Finally, if it rejects this defence, the jury must consider the amount of damages to award Mr Adams as compensation for damage done to his reputation. Mr Adams's lawyers have argued he has the reputation of a 'peacemaker' and of helping to end violence in Northern Ireland. The BBC claims Mr Adams's case is a 'cynical attempt' to 'launder' a reputation for being in the Provisional IRA and sitting on its decision-making body, known as the army council. The judge said a person's reputation can change over time. He said the jury should evaluate Mr Adams's reputation from 2016 – the time of the broadcast – to now, if it awards damages. He previously told the jury members they should only consider Mr Adams's reputation in the Republic of Ireland . He said the jury members are not being asked what they think about Mr Adams or whether they approve of him. 'You decide what the evidence is in relation to his reputation,' the judge said.
