Media

Timeline - the Independent News & Media data breach and its fallout

Key events at the media group leading to the publication of report by High Court inspectors

Denis O'Brien: In 2019, he sold most of his stake in INM to Mediahuis at a loss of more than €400 million.
Simran Kathuria
Wed Jul 31 2024 - 15:05

2005: O’Brien begins amassing his stake in INM, initially acquiring a 5 per cent stake in the media group, which was then controlled by Sir Anthony O’Reilly.

2008: O’Brien raises his stake in INM to nearly 26 per cent, buying six million shares in the group, giving him the power to block special resolutions.

2012: INM chief executive Gavin O’Reilly, son of Sir Anthony O’Reilly, leaves the company, severing the near-40-year control that the O’Reilly family had over the business. O’Brien’s long-time business associate Leslie Buckley is later appointed as chairman.

2014: Robert Pitt is appointed as INM chief executive.

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2016: INM board members consider a bid for Newstalk. A disagreement emerges between Robert Pitt and Leslie Buckley over the valuation of the business. The deal does not proceed.

2017: INM ditches proposed €4 million takeover of Celtic Media after series of controversies. Pitt leaves INM and makes a protected disclosure about Leslie Buckley to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

2018: The then High Court president, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, appoints two inspectors to investigate an alleged data breach that it says was directed by Leslie Buckley and paid for by O’Brien.

2019: O’Brien sells majority of his stake in INM to Belgian company Mediahuis, incurring a loss of more than €400 million.

2021: The Data Protection Commission, the State’s data privacy watchdog, finds that a “data security incident” in 2014 involving the the “processing of personal data” in the searching of emails belonging to current and former journalists and company executives breached data privacy law and had no legal basis.

2022: Mediahuis Ireland, formerly known as INM, settles claims made by a group of 19 people with various links to the company whose emails were illegally accessed in the 2014 data breach.

2023: Former INM executives Gavin O’Reilly and Karl Brophy settle claim for damages against the company and its former chairman, Leslie Buckley.

2024: Following a six-year investigation, the inspectors present their final report to High Court judge Mr Justice Garrett Simons. The report is published by the Corporate Enforcement Authority. The inspectors find that O’Brien was told emails within the media group were being searched as part of an effort to identify why a solicitor’s contract with the company had been renewed. The inspectors concluded that technical breaches of the Data Protection Acts were established but found no breach of company law.