COUNSEL for Mr Michael Lowry drew attention to two headlines in The Irish Times when the tribunal resumed yesterday.
Mr Donal O'Donnell SC said that the headline on the front page said "Dunne paid Lowry `further £500,000'," and on page seven said "Lowry got £1/2 million from Dunne as well as £390,000 for extension." It was taken up and repeated on RTE.
The implication (from the quotation marks) was that someone said that Mr McCullough (counsel for the tribunal) had said that.
It was clearly wrong. It was not the evidence that was given. Mr Lowry was paid £155,000 and, in addition, £34,000 for Christmas bonuses. "These appear to be the total payments," he said.
The report was unfair and in accurate, and he invited both the newspaper and the radio to correct it.
Mr Justice McCracken, thee sole member of the tribunal, agreed it was unfair and inaccurate and stressed that there must be great accuracy about what he did receive.
Mr Denis McCullough SC, counsel for the tribunal, said it was not helpful if these matters were reported inaccurately. "I realise that a lot of figures were bandied around," he said, but agreed that this figure was not correct.
He would be glad if The Irish Times did correct it, and hoped that mathematics would be applied more accurately.