Dr Niall Meehan and The Irish Times

Complaint

On 14 May 2024 the Press Ombudsman decided not to uphold a complaint by Dr Niall Meehan about an article published in The Irish Times in December 2023.

The article is a front-page news report about government plans to assess church assets in order to progress stalled talks on reparations for survivors of mother and baby homes.  It explains that this arises from the findings three years previously of a Commission of Investigation Report. 

Dr Meehan’s complaint arises from the inclusion in the article of a statement from the leadership of the Church of Ireland, which, the article stated, said it “neither owned nor operated” any of the homes in the Commission’s report. Dr Meehan said the newspaper had breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Press Council’s Code of Practice concerning publication of a misleading and inaccurate statement.

He said that while the newspaper was not at fault for publishing this statement, “the fault lies in refusing an opportunity to correct the factual record”.  He said the Church of Ireland had misled the paper’s readers and omitted information.  He noted that he had written to The Irish Times and had received a “non-response”.  He requested that the Press Ombudsman intervene to ensure that the publication allowed the factual record to be corrected.

The Irish Times stated that the Church of Ireland statement had been accurately quoted in an article that had striven to reflect the positions taken by parties to the controversy.  It said there was no error to correct.  It said that Dr Meehan had sent a letter for publication in which he said that the Church of Ireland statement was “not strictly accurate” and followed it up with an amended letter in which he said it was “a misstatement”.  The publication said Dr Meehan was entitled to his view of the Church of Ireland statement but that The Irish Times had not breached the Code.

Press Ombudsman’s Decision

The Press Ombudsman finds that The Irish Times published in quotation marks an assertion made by the Church of Ireland as part of a news report about an ongoing process in relation to redress.  The newspaper was not under any obligation to editorialise as to whether it believed the statement to be true or false.  There was no breach of Principle 1 of the Code of Practice.

Appeal to Press Council 

Dr Meehan appealed the decision of the Press Ombudsman to the Press Council of Ireland on the grounds that there was an error in the Press Ombudsman’s application of Principle 1.2 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice.

Dr Meehan argued that having regard to the meaning of Principle 1.2 of the Code of Practice, the Press Ombudsman should have decided that The Irish Times was obliged to assess objectively the apparent statement of fact it published against what he said was supplied contrary evidence, and that the publication was required to publish a clarification, correction or response.

At its meeting on 3 July 2024 the Press Council considered the appeal on the grounds relied upon and on the information, documentation and submissions made by both parties to the appeal.

Press Councils’ Appeal Decision

The Press Council decided to reject the appeal. The appellant disagreed with the decision of the Press Ombudsman, but the Press Council decided that there was no evidence that the Press Ombudsman had erred in her application of Principle 1.2 of the Code, which was clearly encompassed in her decision.