A journalist has refused before the High Court to disclose the source of his story stating that gardaí were concerned that a "serial violent sex offender" was living in Ballybunion, Co Kerry.
It is claimed such reports resulted in a family being shunned in the local community and leaving their home.
In court yesterday, Conor Keane, a journalist with the Examinernewspaper, refused to answers questions which, he said, would reveal the identity of the source of a story written by him. It was published on the front page of the Kerrymannewspaper on April 9th, 1999, stating that a convicted violent sex offender was staying in Ballybunion.
Mr Keane was giving evidence on the third day of an action by Alan Gray, his wife Phyllis and their son Francis, Drumalee Road, North Circular Road, Dublin.
They are suing the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General for damages, claiming that their constitutional right to privacy was breached when gardaí leaked to the media information that their nephew, James O'Donoghue, a convicted rapist, had been staying with them after being released from prison.
Mr O'Donoghue had stayed five weeks with the family.
The Grays claim that following stories in the Star, Kerryman and Examinernewspapers, they were shunned by the local community and decided to return to Dublin.
They had moved to Co Kerry in the mid-1990s as part of the Rural Resettlement Scheme. They claim they suffered mental distress, anxiety and personal injury as a result of the alleged actions of the gardaí.
The State denies all the claims.
Mr Keane told Mark De Blacam SC yesterday that he believed he wrote a story, headlined "Garda Concern Over Sex Pervert", some time on April 7th, 1999.
Mr Keane, the Kerryman'schief reporter at the time, said he got an anonymous tip-off from a woman about Mr O'Donoghue's presence in Ballybunion. The woman would not give her name.
He said he spoke to a number of people and what she had said was the truth. His article stated: "Gardaí are not commenting to the media but the Kerrymanunderstands that they only became aware of the man's presence in Ballybunion as a result of routine Garda inquiries as to the whereabouts of known sex offenders, following the rape and sexual assault of two young girls in the Clondalkin area of Dublin."
The article also said: "Local gardaí are believed to be very anxious about the presence of the man and have taken the precaution of informing people living in the immediate vicinity."
The article did not name Mr O'Donoghue or the Grays or give their address.
Asked by Mr De Blacam whether he spoke to gardaí in relation to the matter, Mr Keane said he could not answer the question. "As a journalist I have a duty to protect my sources," he said.
After Mr Justice Quirke asked Mr Keane if the information did not come from gardaí and Mr Keane declined to answer, the judge said that refusal to state that the information had not come from gardaí gave rise to the inference that he had received information from gardaí.
Applications by Mr De Blacam to have Mr Keane answer the questions were refused by the judge, who said: "These are not the circumstances to create a crisis." The case continues today.