A Man and the Irish Mail on Sunday

Decision of the Press Council

The Council considered the appeals at its meeting on May 8th.

With regard to the appeal of the complainant, the Council decided the submission did not provide adequate grounds either in relation to new evidence or to any error in procedure or in the application of the principles of the code to warrant a full consideration of the appeal.

In making its appeal the newspaper offered to provide to the Council a tape recording of the interview with the complainant that had formed the basis of the interview, and argued that this constituted significant new evidence and was therefore grounds for an appeal. The Council noted that an earlier request from the Press Ombudsman for the tape recording had been refused by the newspaper citing legal advice. The Council therefore decided that evidence denied to the Press Ombudsman could not subsequently be submitted to the Council and used as grounds for an appeal. Taking all other evidence into account the Council found no adequate grounds either in relation to new evidence or to any error in procedure or in the application of the principles of the code to warrant a full consideration of the appeal.

The decision of the Press Ombudsman is therefore upheld.