€3,500 libel payout is not just a hollow victory, says ex-IRA man
But Sinn Féin’s Nicky Kehoe could face massive legal bill
A SINN Féin official who sued RTÉ over remarks made on live radio may face the bulk of a legal bill of at least €200,000 after being handed the smallest ever libel award in the State’s history.
Yesterday, a jury awarded former IRA terrorist Nicky Kehoe just €3,500 after a sixday High Court trial and over 11 hours of deliberations.
However, outside the Four Courts, Mr Kehoe told the media: ‘I’m really happy, my family is happy… I’ve no malice against anyone. I took a case against RTÉ to vindicate my name and I’ve done it.’
Asked how he felt about the ‘low’ award, Mr Kehoe insisted: ‘It’s nothing to do with money with me – it’s my name. That’s what I came here for.’ Asked how he might pay a ‘very significant’ share of the costs, Mr Kehoe threw his arms in the air before walking away.
He had complained that he was defamed in an October 24, 2015, live broadcast in which Labour’s Joe Costello suggested Mr Kehoe was a member of the IRA Army Council who ‘controlled’ how Sinn Féin Dublin City councillors voted. RTÉ argued that he should receive no more than a cent in damages because he was ‘a notorious former IRA terrorist’.
The jury assessed damages at €10,000 and found RTÉ was 35% responsible, while Mr Costello was 65% responsible.
This means RTÉ must pay €3,500 in damages as Mr Costello was not sued by Mr Kehoe.
After the verdict was announced at 12.20pm, Cian Ferriter SC, for RTÉ, said it was ‘probably the lowest award’ of damages ever recorded in a High Court libel case in the State’s history. RTÉ will argue that with a payout ‘as minimal as that, Mr Kehoe is not entitled to costs,’ Mr Ferriter added.
Judge Barton postponed deciding on costs to a later date.
Mr Kehoe had told the jury how he’d worked hard to move on from that past and build up a ‘different’ reputation as an organiser of activities in his local community in Cabra, Dublin.
He claimed that RTÉ presenter Claire Byrne ‘let him down very badly’. Yesterday Ms Byrne, 42, told reporters: ‘I’m really looking forward to getting back doing my job which is what I love doing. That’s where I’m headed now, back to RTÉ to prepare for the [TV] programme tonight.’
Asked if was she disappointed with the outcome, Ms Byrne only said: ‘That’s all I have to say,’ before turning to Tom McGuire, head of RTÉ Radio 1. He said: ‘This is a very positive result… This vindicates the decision of RTÉ to [defend] this case to support Claire and the programme team. It’s something we will continue to do for all our presenters, all our journalists and all our broadcasters. It’s really important that a public service broadcaster is able to host live, vigorous political debate for the sake of our democracy.’
Former Labour TD Joe Costello released a statement last night on the verdict. It read: ‘I would like to express my disappointment that a specific level of responsibility has been apportioned to me. I am at loss to understand why I have been referred to in the judgment. I was not a party to the case... I am advised that the finding of the jury in relation to me has no legal significance or consequences.’
Under cross-examination, Mr Kehoe admitted that he’d been ‘a senior member of a murdering organisation’. Yesterday, jurors decided that the Saturday With Claire Byrne broadcast, taken as a whole, did not mean that Mr Kehoe was a senior member of the IRA Army Council. They also decided that the broadcast did not mean that Mr Kehoe was a member of ‘an illegal criminal organisation’.
The broadcast also did not mean that Mr Kehoe ‘controls way in which Sinn Féin councillors vote’ at Dublin City Council meetings on behalf of the IRA Army Council, the jury concluded. They also decided that the radio segment did not mean that Mr Kehoe was deliberately trying to ‘further the aims of an illegal organisation’.
However, they concluded the broadcast did mean that Mr Kehoe was ‘not fit to be involved in the democratic process’. They also found that RTÉ was not entitled to rely on a defence of ‘fair and reasonable publication’ under the 2009 Defamation Act.
According, they awarded Mr Kehoe €3,500 – but declined to award him aggravated damages on top of that, as sought by Mr Kehoe. Judge Barton thanked the jury for their ‘careful consideration’ of the evidence.
Comment – Page 12 paul.caffrey@dailymail.ie
‘I’m heading back to RTÉ now’