Decided by the Press Ombudsman

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint against The Irish Times by a man. The complainant wishes to be anonymous.  The article, published in April 2023, was headlined, “The doctor who questioned Ireland’s Covid policy and lost his job: ‘We destroyed young people’s lives for what?’” It comprised an interview of Dr Martin Feeley in which his voice predominates. The complainant said it breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy), Principle 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) and Principle 8 (Prejudice).

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint against the Limerick Post online (limerickpost.ie).

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint by Mr Raymond Butler against Independent.ie about an article headlined, ‘Panic buying of home-heating oil sends prices up sharply and leads to delivery delays’ which was published in December 2022.

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint from Ms Joan Burgess about an article published on Independent.ie in January 2023. The article is an opinion piece about Irish farming, its relationship to veganism, and how it promotes itself to consumers. The complainant states that it breaches Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and Principle 3 (Fair Procedures and Honesty).

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint against Gript.ie by Bernadette Linnane.

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint against the Kilkenny People by Mr Luke O’Connor.  Mr O’Connor complained that an article published in February 2023 breached Principle 3 (Fair Procedures and Honesty) of the Press Council’s Code of Practice because of the “unfortunate conduct” of the newspaper’s journalist in her engagement with him, and also that he had been “misrepresented and quoted out of context”.  The Kilkenny People denied any breach of the Code of Practice.

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint against the Meath Chronicle. The complaint was made by the victim of an assault about a court report published in the newspaper in January 2023 with the headline, “Trim man found guilty of hitting bus driver avoids prison term”. 

On 22 December 2022 the Press Ombudsman decided not to uphold a complaint by Mr Adrian Doyle about an article  published by the Wexford People.

The Press Ombudsman has not upheld a complaint made by Mr Hermann Kelly that an article published online by the Sunday World on 27 November 2022 breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice of the Press Council of Ireland. 

The Press Ombudsman decided not to uphold a complaint made about an article published online by the Irish Examiner on 25 August 2022 in its opinion section.  The complainant asserted his right to anonymity.