A Woman and the Irish Daily Mail

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

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published a family law court report which detailed how a woman through her solicitor had apologised to the court and withdrawn allegations made about sex abuse at the house of a neighbour.

The woman wrote to the Irish Daily Mail stating that the article contained “inaccuracies throughout”. She claimed that the article referred to her as having made “false allegations”.  She stated that she had “never made any false allegations”.   She also complained about the accuracy of a statement in the article relating to the apology she had made in court.

The woman complained to the Office of the Press Ombudsman claiming that the article had breached Principle 1 of the Code of Practice.

The Irish Daily Mail responded to the complaint and stated that the report “was a fair and accurate summary” of what had happened in court and had not breached any Principles of the Code of Practice.

As a resolution of the complaint could not be achieved by conciliation it was forwarded to the Press Ombudsman for a decision.

The woman provided the Office of the Press Ombudsman with no evidence that the court report was inaccurate. The article had stated that the woman’s solicitor had apologised in court on her behalf and that the woman had withdrawn her allegations.  What the woman provided 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the issue, as reported in the Irish Daily Mail, that her solicitor had apologised to the court on her behalf and withdrawn her allegations.

For these reasons, the complaint is not upheld.

12 July 2017