TheEarlofPearl
Full Member
Done, although I wouldn't give a f8ck as to what that dipshit patsy thinks.
The High Court has dismissed a defamation action taken by a schoolteacher and Sinn Féin constituency organiser against the Sunday Life newspaper.
Liam Lappin, with an address in Drumcondra, Dublin, had claimed he was defamed in an article published by the Belfast newspaper in March 2020, which contained a photograph of him and 13 others at a Sinn Féin Christmas party.
Also in the photograph were Sinn Féin’s Northern Assembly finance minister Conor Murphy and Frank McCabe, an IRA commander whose gang was implicated in the notorious murder of Paul Quinn.
In a judgment issued today, Mr Justice Charles Meenan rejected Mr Lappin’s claim that the article, either in its ordinary meaning or by innuendo, meant he was a murderer and an IRA member.
The judge said he did not think a reasonable reader would attach such meanings to the article.
Although he appeared in the photograph, Mr Lappin was not named in the piece, which focussed on the presence of Mr Murphy and Mr McCabe at the gathering.
The ruling came following an application from the newspaper’s owner, Mediahuis UK Limited, and the journalist who wrote the article, Suzanne Breen, for the striking out of defamation and injurious falsehood claims.
Lawyers for Mediahuis, whose publications include the Irish Independent, stated in court the meaning Mr Lappin claimed could be inferred from the article "stretches credulity".
As part of the proceedings, Mr Lappin also sued journalist Ruth Dudley Edwards, who tweeted about the article. His claim against Ms Dudley Edwards was not the subject of the dismissal application.
Mediahuis’s lawyers said Ms Dudley Edwards, who is separately represented, was not an employee and tweeted from her personal account.
Mr Lappin also alleged breaches of his privacy and data protection against Mediahuis UK, but these were also not part of the strike-out application.
His case is one of 18 legal actions taken by Sinn Féin politicians and party activists against media organisations, journalists, public representatives and other individuals over the past decade. More than a third of these cases are ongoing.
The actions include defamation claims taken by party leader Mary Lou McDonald against RTÉ and former leader Gerry Adams against the BBC.
The most recently filed lawsuit saw Dublin Bay South TD Chris Andrews sue The Irish Times and one of its political correspondents personally over an article reporting on a comment he made on social media the day after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
In the his judgment, Mr Justice Meenan said the photograph complained of by Mr Lappin was taken at a Sinn Féin Newry and Armagh Christmas party in December 2019 and had also apparently appeared on a Sinn Féin website.
The article, which had the headline ‘Sinn Féin man seen socialising with IRA chief whose gang is accused over attack’ related to the presence at the party of Mr Murphy and Mr McCabe.
There were clear red circles around the two men in the photograph and Mr Lappin was not identified in the piece or accompanying captions.
The article said Mr McCabe was the “officer commanding” of the IRA in South Armagh when its members lured 21-year-old Cullyhanna man Paul Quinn to a barn in Oran, Co Monaghan and beat him to death with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels in 2007.
It stressed there was no suggestion Mr McCabe played a role in the killing.
Mr Lappin commenced proceeding in August 2020 for defamation and injurious falsehood in respect of the article, photograph and the tweet. The claims against Mediahuis UK were denied by the publishers.
In his pleadings, Mr Lappin described the IRA as “a criminal and terrorist organisation”.
As well as claiming the article and photograph in their ordinary meaning and by innuendo conveyed he was a murderer and an IRA member, he also claimed to have been portrayed as a “blackguard” and “untrustworthy”.
However, Mr Justice Meenan said he was satisfied the meanings contended for by Mr Lappin were “strained”, “forced” and “utterly unreasonable”.
The judge also said he was satisfied Mr Lappin’s claim for damages for “injurious falsehood” should be struck out.
Mr Justice Meenan said, subject to submissions from the parties, he was of the view Mediahuis and Ms Breen were entitled to the costs of the motion and the costs of defending the proceedings to date in respect of the claims for defamation and injurious falsehood.
