Independent Newspapers faces a total bill of about £1.5 million after the largest libel damages against a newspaper in the history of the State were awarded to the Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa.
A High Court jury awarded Mr De Rossa damages of £300,000 yesterday over an article by the Sunday Independent columnist Eamon Dunphy. Costs estimated at £450,000 for the third hearing of Mr de Rossa's action were awarded against the company by Mr Justice Carney.
The court will decide later who pays the costs of a previous hearing, estimated at £600,000. Costs of about £400,000 from the first hearing have already been awarded against Independent Newspapers. Independent group executives and lawyers were last night considering whether they would appeal the scale of the damages awarded yesterday.
Outside the court Mr De Rossa said he was "absolutely delighted" at the "commonsense result". He declined to comment on the size of the award. "It has taken me four years, seven months and 18 days to get to this point through three court cases. I was determined that justice and rightness was on my side," he said.
He said he had taken the case because the Sunday Independent had refused to apologise or to retract the article. His action was "not an attack on press freedom, as the Independent sought to portray it". He said he had "no feelings about Eamon Dunphy, one way or the other". The managing director of Independent Newspapers (Ireland), Mr David Palmer, said: "The verdict has profound implications for journalism in Ireland. We shall consider our position over the coming days."
Mr Dunphy made only a brief statement after the case, thanking his lawyers and Independent Newspapers "for their support through this difficult trial and for supporting my journalism".
He is to appear again before Mr Justice Carney next Tuesday on an issue of alleged contempt of court arising out of comments he made on his Radio Ireland show this week. On Wednesday, in the absence of the jury, the judge said he considered some of Tuesday night's broadcast "an advance speech to the jury" and he had to assume jury members heard it.
After under two hour's deliberation yesterday, at the end of an 11day hearing, the jury unanimously decided Mr De Rossa had been libelled by an article published in the Sunday Independent in December 1992. The jury said Mr Dunphy's article meant the former Minister was involved in or tolerated serious crime and that he personally supported anti-semitism and violent Communist oppression. They awarded him £300,000.
"I don't think it should be seen at all as any infringement of press freedom," said Ms Liz McManus of Democratic Left, who had given evidence for Mr De Rossa during the hearing. "There are limits to freedom. You cannot use your standing as somebody in the media to destroy somebody's character when that is a good and decent person. In this case Proinsias is a good and decent person." See also Pages 6 and 7