A POPULAR community website in Co Mayo has been forced to close because of a threat of legal action by a newspaper over bulletin board postings critical of the paper's coverage of alleged widespread acts of homosexuality on the outskirts of Castlebar.
The castlebar.ie website carried a raft of postings which were critical of local freesheet Mayo Echo'scoverage of allegations of "gay cruising" at Lough Lannagh, a well-known recreational spot in the town.
The posting claimed the coverage was unbalanced and derogatory towards homosexuals, and criticised the freesheet newspaper in strong terms.
The comments were later withdrawn from the website, however, and the site issued a "full and unequivocal apology" following a complaint from the Mayo Echothat some of the postings were "unacceptable", "untrue" and "completely defamatory".
The administrators of the website, which has been in operation for 10 years, announced that it was now closing down, after a further threat of legal action had been issued after the apology had been published.
In a statement posted on its site, castlebar.ie said:"It has always been the policy of the site to remove any material that is complained about as soon as the complaint is received.
"This has happened perhaps three or four times in the past and those complaining were always satisfied when the offending material was removed - the site has never needed to publish an apology before this.
"In this case, however, in spite of removing the material and publishing an immediate apology, this has been refused and an ongoing threat of taking legal action hangs over the site.
"It is no longer possible to run a voluntary website such as castlebar.ie on a server based in Ireland regardless of where the moderators actually live."
The Mayo Echodefended its coverage of the issue, saying that it got many messages of support, particularly from parents.
In this week's edition, the paper said some of the comments on the website, which were posted anonymously, had called for attacks on its staff and one suggested the paper's premises be burned.
The paper said the website was highly regarded and hoped it would be restored with a revised system to prevent potentially defamatory and untrue messages and threats against innocent parties being displayed on the bulletin board.
Meanwhile, Outwest, an organisation representing gays and lesbians in the west, has criticised the Mayo Echofor what it claimed were "unfounded allegations" about widespread gay cruising.
In a statement, it said a Garda superintendent had confirmed to it that no one had been arrested regarding the alleged activity and that there were no reports of anyone being physically assaulted.
Outwest said it found the Mayo Echoarticle "particularly disappointing", adding that many people had contacted it "distressed at the language used and allegations made".