RTÉ reporter suing a top union off icial
Reporter John Kilraine to take action after attack by Brendan Ogle on Facebook
RTÉ’s Dublin correspondent John Kilraine is suing high-profile trade union leader and anti-homelessness campaigner Brendan Ogle.
The plenary summons for the case was issued on Friday – according to legal information service CourtsDesk.
The summons comes almost a year to the day after RTÉ featured a report by the experienced journalist that led to an irate Facebook outburst from the union official.
The news report was broadcast by RTÉ on January 16 last. It centred on how Unite trade union official Mr Ogle had led an occupation of a building owned by Nama to protest against homelessness, while a trust linked to the trade union applied for a social housing exemption for Unite’s Dublin headquarters.
The trade union headquarters at No.15 Merrion Square was vacant for three years and the RTÉ report was broadcast after activists concluded their month-long occupation of Apollo House on Dublin’s Tara Street. The news report prompted a 1,777-word statement by Mr Ogle on his Facebook page and he initiated legal proceedings against RTÉ for defamation.
Now Mr Kilraine has issued a counter claim and it is believed the pending legal case is being taken because Mr Ogle questioned his and RTÉ’s impartiality.
At the time, the national broadcaster insisted its report was fair and accurate. And following the
posting of critical comments about its staff on Mr Ogle’s Facebook page last year, RTÉ issued a statement defending Mr Kilraine’s report.
In the statement issued at the time, RTÉ said: ‘While we welcome feedback and have processes in place to facilitate both feedback and official complaints, we strongly condemn personal attacks on our journalists and presenters.
‘RTÉ stands by its reporting of the Apollo House story which we are satisfied has been fair and accurate.’
Séamus Dooley, the Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said at the time that he was unhappy with the personal attack that Mr Ogle had delivered.
Mr Dooley said: ‘As an experienced and committed trade union official, I find it disappointing that Brendan should target named individual workers via social media posts or public statements, especially in a manner he and his colleagues would find unacceptable in relation to individual workers represented by his own union.’
Mr Ogle did not respond to attempts by the Irish Mail on Sunday to contact him.
Mr Kilraine was also unavailable for comment.
After campaigners occupied Apollo House in late 2016, Mr Ogle wrote in a national newspaper about how a loose coalition had formed with the goal of achieving a situation ‘where nobody, at least in Dublin, would be forced to be without a roof for this Christmas and beyond’.
Mr Kilraine has worked with RTÉ since 2003. He previously worked for a number of newspapers.
‘Ogle questioned reporter’s impartiality’