A woman and the Irish Examiner

The Press Ombudsman has not upheld a complaint made by a woman that the Irish Examiner breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and Principle 7 (Court Reporting) of the Code of Practice of the Press Council of Ireland.

The Irish Examiner published a family court report which detailed how a woman through her solicitor had apologised to the court and withdrawn allegations she had made about sex abuse at a house of a neighbour.

The woman wrote to the editor of the Irish Examiner stating that she had not withdrawn “any allegations of sexual abuse at that house and that what was written about her was ‘untrue’”. In its response, the Irish Examiner stood over the court report as an accurate account of what had happened in court.

The woman complained to the Office of the Press Ombudsman claiming that the court report had breached Principles 1 and 7 of the Code of Practice.

The woman provided the Office of the Press Ombudsman with no evidence that the court report was inaccurate. The court report had stated that the woman’s solicitor had apologised on her behalf and had withdrawn her allegations.  What the woman did provide the Office of the Press Ombudsman with were documents which she claimed substantiated the allegations she had made in a letter distributed to her neighbours.  However, these did not address the issue, as reported in the Irish Examiner, that her solicitor had apologised to the court on her behalf and withdrawn her allegations.

For these reasons, the complaint is not upheld.

18 May 2017