A LOCAL NEWSPAPER has made a complaint to gardaí after delivery workers for its rival damaged a bundle of its papers. 

Editor of the Clare Echo Stuart Holly was made aware of the destruction of a bundle of the paper’s latest issue outside a store in the east of the county on 28 February. 

CCTV footage from outside the shop shows a van with two men pulling up outside. One of the men exits the van with what is understood to be copies of the Clare Champion and drops them off outside the shop.

This man then kicks the bundle of Clare Echo papers, which had already been delivered, under the van. The footage shows the van driving over the papers multiple times before driving off, leaving the newspapers scattered on the road outside. 

Note this video has been edited to conceal identities, but TheJournal.ie has seen the entire interaction.

Holly told TheJournal.ie he was “very taken aback by the footage”.

“Serious disregard was shown to the shop staff who had to walk up and down the street picking up loose papers and my heart went out to them.

Personally, my focus is purely on the continued growth of The Clare Echo. We are in our second year trading and while it is frustrating to see somebody attempting to undo our hard work – regardless of who they are working for. I’m glad it has been flagged and trust our deliveries will not be tampered with going forward.

The Clare Echo editor said he has reported the incident to gardaí and intends to make a formal statement to them.

A garda spokesperson confirmed to TheJournal.ie that gardaí are investigating an incident of criminal damage outside the retail premises on 28 February. 

“A delivery of newspapers was damaged by a vehicle. Investigations are ongoing.”

Holly said the managing director of the Clare Champion, John Galvin, told him the newspaper did not condone these actions and said he was sorry the incident had occurred. 

Galvin did not respond to queries from TheJournal.ie requesting comment on the incident and clarification on whether the newspaper would continue to use this distributor in the future.