FORMER IRISH INDEPENDENT journalist Gemma O’Doherty has launched legal proceedings against science writer David Robert Grimes.

Court papers for the case were filed in the High Court yesterday.

It follows the launch of defamation proceedings against O’Doherty by Grimes last month. 

Those proceedings are understood to relate to comments made by the recent European election candidate on a social media platform.

Contacted by TheJournal.ie today O’Doherty said she had no comment to make on the matter. 

O’Doherty is being represented by Belfast-based firm KRW Law, a large practice which has previously assisted solicitors in high-profile cases, including those involving the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and the parents of Madeleine McCann.

Gemma O’Doherty 

O’Doherty attempted to run in last year’s presidential election, but was unable to secure enough nominations from local councils to get on the ballot. 

She also ran for the European elections this year in the Dublin constituency, where she secured 6,659 first preference votes, finishing 12th out of 19 candidates.  

O’Doherty has been a controversial figure on social media in recent years, and regularly issues posts criticising Ireland’s media, political parties and immigration policies. 

She has been critical of vaccines and vaccine programmes in the past. She is a founder of Anti-Corruption Ireland, which has called for the HPV vaccine to be banned. 

Grimes is a cancer researcher and physicist who has written for a number of publications including The Irish Times and The Guardian.

He has commented extensively on matters relating to vaccination and the importance of vaccinating children, including on TheJournal.ie’s Explainer podcast.

He declined to comment on the case against him when contacted today.

With reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald.