A former chairman of the Waterford County GAA Board has been awarded £15,000 damages in a libel action brought against Examiner Publications (Cork) Ltd.
Mr Eamon Murphy (48), Shanaclune, Dunhill, Co. Waterford, sued the newspaper group over a headline and photograph which appeared in the Evening Echo on April 20th, 1994.
Mr Sean Ryan SC, on behalf of the plaintiff, told Dungarvan Circuit Court that his client was chairman of the County GAA Board when an article was published by the defendant headed "Decies Disgrace", with a captioned photograph of him positioned beside the headline. The article itself - the content and accuracy of which were not disputed - related to what its author, Mr John Murphy, described to the court as unprecedented scenes of mayhem and acrimony at the county board meeting, which was chaired by the plaintiff. "It was probably the most tempestuous county GAA board meeting I have ever attended in my 39 years in journalism. The meeting degenerated into total mayhem at one juncture. The scenes were without parallel in my experience.
"I simply conveyed that what took place that night was a shambles. I wasn't pointing the finger of accusation at anyone in particular, just stating that what happened on the occasion brought no lustre or credit to the GAA in Waterford", Mr Murphy said. The journalist confirmed that he had no input whatsoever into either the headline or the photograph.
Mr Ryan submitted that the juxtapositioning of the word "disgrace" and Mr Murphy's picture was clearly defamatory of the plaintiff. His client, he said, had been injured in his personal and business reputation and he asked the court to award substantial damages. The plaintiff told the court that the offending item had been a source of great distress to him and his family.
Mr David Kennedy, for Examiner Publications, argued that there was no defamation involved. He said that the headline reflected the reported happenings at the GAA meeting and in no way referred to or could be understood to refer to the plaintiff. The colloquial term "Decies" meant Waterford people in general. Mr Kennedy said the headline and photograph should be taken in the context of the overall article and not in isolation.
Following legal submissions from both counsel, Judge Olive Buttimer deferred judgement in the matter until yesterday. In delivering her judgement, Judge Buttimer held that in the body of the article, as published, there was no reference to "disgrace". Therefore, the heading when placed beside the photograph of the plaintiff naming him as the Waterford County Board chairman was defamatory in her opinion. Judge Buttimer added: "However, I must say that in fairness to the journalist who wrote the article, Mr Murphy, the article itself was not defamatory" and it was acknowledged that he had no input into the headline.
Judge Buttimer said that "the press have tremendous power and it must be used carefully". She was satisfied that for the heading not to be defamatory, it would have to specify what the word "disgrace" referred to. In this instance it did not and the plaintiff was entitled to succeed.
Judge Buttimer assessed damages for libel at £15,000 plus costs. She granted a stay on the order in the event of an appeal.