The parents of a five-month-old baby bitten and beaten by another baby in a creche have accepted £15,000 in settlement of a defamation claim against Ireland on Sunday newspaper.
The newspaper also undertook to publish an apology with regard to an allegation that court proceedings on behalf of the infant were part of "a scheme to make a fast buck as distinct from obtaining legitimate compensation".
Ms Elizabeth Lawless, Charlemont, Griffith Avenue, Dublin, on behalf of her baby daughter, Alison, had originally sued Yvonne Bowers, trading as Tots & Company, for personal injuries.
Last February Judge Desmond Hogan in the Circuit Civil Court approved a £15,000 settlement for Alison, the money to be lodged in court until she is 18.
Yesterday Ms Lawless and her husband, Brian, claimed that on the Sunday following national press coverage of the settlement, Ireland on Sunday had published an article under the headline "A www.way to make cash." The article, relating to making money by registering sites on the web, had stated: "You have to admire anyone who comes up with a scheme to make a fast buck" and had suggested somebody should register www.£15000pertoddler'sbite.com.
The Lawlesses claimed the words meant that in initiating proceedings as parents, they were involved in a scheme to make a fast buck. Mr Rory MacCabe SC, who appeared with Mr Terry O'Sullivan, for Mr and Ms Lawless, told Judge Michael White yesterday that the defamation proceedings, to which Ireland on Sunday had entered a full defence, had been settled and could be struck out with an order for costs against the newspaper.
In February Judge Hogan heard Alison had been badly beaten and bitten by an older child in Tots & Company. When Ms Lawless had returned to collect her baby from the creche in Croydon Park Avenue, Marino, Dublin, she had been shocked and alarmed by what she had found.
Mr O'Sullivan told the initial hearing that Alison had been beaten over the head by another older child with a wooden toy. There had been red marks all over Alison's head which subsequently turned black and blue. Hospital staff later found bite marks on the child's left arm.