O’Brien Defamation Payout: €823,500 for False IRA Claim

Jury Orders O’Brien to Pay Over €800,000 in Damages

Businessman Denis O’Brien and his spokesman James Morrissey have been found liable for defamation by a High Court jury and ordered to pay a total of €823,500 in damages to two solicitors. The jury determined that a 2016 press release wrongfully implied that Belfast-based solicitors Darragh Mackin and Gavin Booth had acted for the IRA, an unlawful organisation.

The verdict concludes a contentious legal battle, with the jury awarding Mr Mackin and Mr Booth €411,750 each in general and aggravated damages to compensate for the significant harm done to their professional reputations. Both solicitors are partners at the prominent Belfast firm, Phoenix Law.

The Disputed Statement

The case centred on a single, powerful sentence within a statement Mr O’Brien issued in 2016. The statement was a response to a critical report on media ownership in Ireland, a sector where Mr O’Brien held substantial interests at the time. The report was co-authored by Mr Mackin and Mr Booth and had been commissioned by Lynn Boylan, who was then a Sinn Féin MEP.

Mr O’Brien’s press release included the line: “Sinn Féin/IRA certainly got the report they paid for.” The plaintiffs argued that this phrasing directly and maliciously linked them to a paramilitary group, thereby exposing them to contempt and ridicule in their profession.

Defence Arguments Rejected

Throughout the trial, the legal team for Mr O’Brien and Mr Morrissey denied that the words were defamatory or carried the meaning alleged by the solicitors. Their defence argued that the phrase was intended to convey that the report was politically biased, unbalanced, and tailored to advance the specific political agenda of Sinn Féin, rather than to suggest any direct association with the IRA.

However, after deliberating for two hours and twenty minutes, the jury, composed of nine men and three women, sided with the plaintiffs. They formally found that the words did indeed mean that both solicitors had acted for the IRA. The legal team for the solicitors consisted of Tom Hogan SC, Mark Harty SC and barrister Conan Fegan, instructed by Johnsons Solicitors. Mr O’Brien and Mr Morrissey were represented by Darren Lehane SC and barrister Joe Holt, instructed by Meagher Solicitors.