A childcare worker with the South Eastern Health Board who brought a libel action against a local radio station was awarded €30,000 plus damages at Waterford Civil Court.
Ms Jacqueline Kennedy, Faithlegg, Co Waterford, who claimed that an interview on Waterford Local Radio's Deise AM portrayed her as "unprofessional and uncaring", succeeded in the action against the South East Broadcasting Company Ltd (WLR FM).
The allegations were made in a prerecorded interview in October 2001 between a former client of the health board, Mr Patrick Roche, and the producer of Deise AM at the time, Mr Ritchie Allen.
Mr Roche identified Ms Kennedy as one of those who had "turned their back on him". He singled out the plaintiff as someone he "believed was a friend", adding: "Now I know who my friends are".
At a previous sitting of the court, Ms Kennedy had said: "I work with children, and my good name and reputation are priceless." She expressed anguish at the lack of an apology from the station.
The President of the District Court, Mr Peter Smithwick, said: "Patrick Roche, for reasons best known to himself, felt a grievance against the health board. The defendants made a decision not to tender him as a witness in this case. They should have made the same decision when asked to let him loose on the airwaves."