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Updated 8.43pm
THE HIGH COURT has said that an injunction granted in favour of businessman Denis O’Brien was not intended to restrict the reporting of utterances in Dáil Éireann.
Judge Donald Binchy said today that it was never the intention that any order made by the court would restrict the right of Dáil deputies to speak as they see fit or the entitlement to report it fairly.
In effect, it clarifies the media’s right to freely publish statements made in the Dáil by independent TD Catherine Murphy about businessman Denis O’Brien’s finances.
The judge’s ruling came as Denis O’Brien’s legal team raised its intention to make an application to the High Court seeking to clarify the ‘demarcation’ between the respective roles of courts and Oireachtas.
RTÉ and the Irish Times were represented in the High Court to seek clarification on their abililty to report Murphy’s comments in the Dáil.
It follows an injunction granted in favour of the businessman against the broadcaster in relation to details of his debts to IBRC, the former Anglo Irish Bank.
O’Brien’s legal team led by Michael Cush SC told the High Court that it was never their intention to stop TDs from making comments in the Dáil.
David Holland SC for RTÉ described the position of O’Brien’s legal team as a “spectacular climb down”.
O’Brien’s legal team had warned reporters, including TheJournal.ie, following our publication of Murphy’s comments in the Dáil on Thursday that publishing the comments would be a potential breach of the temporary injunction obtained on 21 May.
Catherine Murphy TD welcomed the clarification from the High Court this afternoon saying it vindicates the rights of elected representatives and the media.
“The substance of my concerns has always been to have a full, competent & independent inquiry into the wider governance issues in IBRC & I will continue to pursue that through the appropriate democratic channels available to me in the Oireachtas,” she said.
A Government spokesperson also welcomed the ruling this evening:
The right of Oireachtas members to exercise privilege is constitutionally protected and this has been reaffirmed by the Judge. It is important that right is exercised responsibly and in the public interest and that the media are free to report fairly on such statements.
RTÉ’s managing director of news and current affairs Kevin Bakhurst said the ruling sent an important message about the rights of the media to report privileged comments in the Dáil.
Redacted
The media were restricted from reporting some details of the 21 May injunction judgement. Legal teams for O’Brien, RTÉ and IBRC returned to court this afternoon to discuss what elements of the judgement could be made public.
Darren Lehane on behalf of O’Brien argued for a number of elements from Judge Binchy’s judgement to be redacted. He described these requests as ‘minimalist’.
The arguments were opposed by David Holland SC who said that an “avalanche of information” had come into the public domain in recent days and that this needs to be considered.
He said that public comments on behalf of O’Brien which accused Catherine Murphy TD of being a liar have “changed this whole case into an entirely different realm of public interest.”
Holland requested that the judge consider this when deciding on redactions.
The parties will return to court tomorrow morning with Judge Binchy saying the public interest in the case means he would like the judgement to be made as soon as possible.
In a statement this evening, RTÉ welcomed the judgement.
“Judge Donald Binchy publicly acknowledged it was entirely understandable that RTÉ brought the application to the court to get necessary clarity,” it read, adding that the judge “previously granted an injunction against RTÉ preventing it from broadcasting any confidential information of Denis O’Brien’ personal banking details with IBRC which remains in place.”
It concluded:
Most importantly, RTÉ very much welcomes the fact the judge clarified that both comments made in the Dáil in the past and future comments in the Dáil are covered by privilege, and that media, including RTÉ are free to report them.
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there are a lot of people out there willing to help. just don’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask.
Best thing you can do is talk. It will be hard but by god does it get easier
Or write it down to try to make sense out of it but talking works…
Some good news for men for a change. Would do no harm to add the text number in the list of help numbers instead of being stuck in the article. Fair play to Console. At least some group seems to be concerned about men.
There need’s to be a place to go like for DVAM. So glad that the fellas are using it and for talking. Huge step. Proud of you all.
I think that is due to stress, how people treat each other, how relationships are suppose to develop according to what people are told, the westernisation of how a man should be a certain way to act to show that he is a man. That the only way to be a man is sex the whole time with strange women, aggression, fighting, treating others with contempt, being hard and nasty as well as ready to start a fight with anyone…
This nonsense is coming from U.S. television telling men that they are not men unless they are total b….ds.
People are too busy chasing images of what they should be from pop culture, TV and the media and it has become a race to be popular by doing what others tell them in order to be popular. In order to be part of a consumerised society and at its core is bullying and greed.
@ Michael Sands. So what way should a man be then?
Rossa, Be himself and not try to be like others, some say to find what you do not like in your life to get an idea to find out what you do like or want in your life then.
Too many are told what will make them happy rather than trying to find this out for themselves. I think what makes people happy is finding their life’s purpose as people are social, they need to be amongst people and not being on FB etc but with people. Secondly, to feel that they have done something meaningful with their time as in work, hobbies etc instead of playing games or watching TV, THAT THERE IS SOMETHING TO SHOW FOR THE TIME THEY USED.
I think if it is gardening, hunting like fishing etc or being creative as in making things that this will make people happier. I think being busy and creative is the best medicine as it gets people from being focused on themselves and their problems and focused onto something different.
To be a man is to be masculine and to be enjoying who you are and what you can do and not to be led about like a dog on a leash by anyone or anything. So what do you think a man should be Rossa?
@ Michael. Unfortunately I am so un- pc in my thinking that I couldn’t possibly share my views on a public forum with my name attached. Primarily we are fathers, brothers and providers and for those of us gifted with natural ability or even inherited fortune we should expect more.
The key to life is to do onto others as you would like done onto you, that is a good start I suppose?
In the case of bullying talking about it can make it worse as bullies who get caught bullying try to control what was said about them by denying it and putting all the blame on their victim from being stupid, evil, an object of fun to being a bully themselves and accusing that person of doing the things the bullies did themselves in order to pass the blame. So you have to be careful who you tell as some bullies are sociopaths and they have friends…
They try to make light out of bullying and control the damage sometimes in order to keep on bullying. The motivation of bullies is control over their victim and their environment, if they can’t effect their victim then they try to control what others think of their victim because control over another person is control for them. If they can’t control their victim then they can control people around that victim, so they use others to satisfy their need for control but that is what sociopaths do. So many who are in such despair are victims of others or circumstances beyond them and that means they feel they have lost control and have become so focused in on their problems that in fact then they are their worst enemy then because they do not see the wider fuller picture as in those who love them, respect them or who like them. They forget or can’t see the options in front of them and they get into dark ways of thinking and feeling because they can’t step back and that is what bullies do to. Bullies are not happy unless they lower someone’s self esteem lower than their own as they live in slurry and try to grab people and drown them in the same slurry that they live in and their victims can’t see then that what others do and think says more about those saying or doing these things than it does about the victim as what people say and do is who and what they are and has nothing to do with facts or the truth but control and bitterness.
I think bullying in society is getting worse and it has to do with people who are angry, envious, wanting to be accepted by a group, who do not want to be bullied themselves so they join in on bullying. a way to proves ones own masculinity to others in order to feel that their manhood isn’t the size of a peanut and transferring anger in one part of their lives into another part by bullying.
I think the best way to defeat suicide is to let people know that they are loved and that their problems are bigger in their head than they are in reality as they can do and be whoever they want as problems are always temporary and it is better to live life and leave the bullies or problem when they live and that is normally in the cesspool that is who they are.
Good that people are reaching out but hoping they get the right support and information when they do.
Time that doctors and pharma companies stop lying to the public and misinformation people. The “chemical imbalance” theory is a myth. People get depressed for various reasons.
The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth by Harvard Professor Irving Kirsch ~
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperors-New-Drugs-Antidepressant/dp/0465022006
Psychiatrist Dr Joanna Moncrieff – The Myth of the Chemical Cure: The Politics of Psychiatric Drug Treatment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV1S5zw096U
{ Do not stop or change prescribed psychoactive drugs without talking to a good doctor, due to the dangers of withdrawal }
Something that helps is ASIST training (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) ~
http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/Mental_Health_Services/NOSP/Training/
http://www.yourmentalhealth.ie/Get-involved/News-events/Events/ ( Under select Period put the next 6 months )
We deserve informed consent about these mind altering drugs. According to medical journalist Robert Whitaker, in his book “Anatomy of an Epidemic”, anti-depressants can turn mild/moderate depression into a chronic, long term condition.
My experience on these drugs, which I unwittingly took for anxiety ~
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