Decided by the Press Ombudsman

The Irish Mail on Sunday on 13 July 2014 published an article under the headline “Priest wants ‘fat mile’ for overweight joggers”.  The article referred to a ‘no doubt tongue-in-cheek missive’ in a parish newsletter that urged councils “to introduce a fat mile to allow overweight people to jog out of public view”.  The views which were described as “humorous musings” were attributed to the parish priest of Castlegregory in Co Kerry, Fr Michael Hussey, though it was acknowledged that the newsletter article had no by-line or name attached.  The Irish Mail on Sunday article quoted extensively the newsletter‘s comments about middle-aged men and women joggers wearing ill-fitting sportswear.  Reference was then made by the Irish Mail on Sunday to another newsletter from the same parish which had described President Michael D Higgins as “king of the Irish fairies” and Queen Elizabeth as “Lizzie”.  The article claimed that Fr Hussey had got into “hot water” over these remarks.  The article was accompanied by a small close-up photograph of Fr Hussey’s face.

The Irish Sunday Mirror published an article on four unresolved murders that had taken place in the 1990s.  No one was convicted of any of the murders.  One person was charged with the murder of one of the victims.  The trial collapsed and the accused man was released from custody.  The person accused of murder in that trial died a decade later.  The article was based on an interview with a brother-in-law of the now deceased accused person.  In the article the interviewee claimed that his brother-in-law had killed the four people and that there had been other people involved in the killings. The article reported the name of the woman who was married at the time of the killings to the interviewee and who was a sister of the person accused of the murders.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by Ms Sharon Ní Bheoláin that an article published in the Irish Farmers Journal on 24 May 2014 about an animal welfare conference she chaired was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold  a complaint by Mr Gerry Adams TD that an article published in the Irish Independent on 14 May 2014 was in breach of Principles 1 (Truth and Accuracy), 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) and 4 (Respect for Rights) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman decided to uphold a complaint by Mr Gerry Adams TD that an article in the Irish Independent on 17 May 2014 breached Principle 4 (Respect for Rights) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines because it had knowingly published matter about the complainant based on an unfounded accusation.    

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold complaints by Mr Gerry Adams TD, that statements in an article about him in the Sunday Independent on 18 May 2014, headlined “Adams tries to gag Independent” were in breach of Principles 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and 4 (Respect for Rights) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that there is insufficient evidence to allow him make a decision on a complaint  made by a woman that an article about her in the Sunday World on 23 March 2014 was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that there is insufficient evidence to allow him make a decision on a complaint made by a woman that an article about her in the Sunday World on 23 March 2014 was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that there is insufficient evidence to allow him make a decision on a complaint by Mr Sean Fitzgerald that an article about him in the Sunday World on 23 March 2014 was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that there is insufficient evidence to allow him make a decision on a complaint by Mr Sean Fitzgerald that an article about him in the Sunday World on 9 March 2014 was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.