Decided by the Press Ombudsman

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by Michael Scanlon and Rosanna Farrell that an article in the News of The World on 10 April 2011 about the couple’s return, with their second child, to the house where their first child had died tragically two years earlier, was in breach of Principle 5 (Privacy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that the Waterford News & Star took sufficient remedial action to resolve a complaint made by the President of the Waterford Council of Trade Unions (WCTU) that an article it published on 12 April last breached Principles 1 (Truth and Accuracy) and 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. He decided not to uphold a complaint that the article breached Principle 4 (Respect for Rights) of the Code.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by Ms Jerrie Ann Sullivan that an article in the Sunday Independent on 19 June 2011 about events at Shell to Sea protests in County Mayo was a breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines because it associated a protest in which she was involved with events that took place on another, later, occasion in a manner that could reasonably be considered as significantly misleading. He also decided that as there was no verifiable evidence to corroborate a statement reported as fact in the headline, the article was in this respect also in breach of Principle 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) of the Code.

The Press Ombudsman has decided that an article published in the Enniscorthy Guardian on 13 April 2011 reporting on an inquest into the death of a local woman did not breach the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint that an article about Rehab and its Chief Executive, Ms Angela Kerins, in the Irish Examiner breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines because it contained a number of significant inaccuracies and misleading statements. A complaint under Principle 4 (Respect for Rights) was not upheld. 

The Press Ombudsman has decided that an offer made by The Sunday Times to publish a clarification of a headline in an article it published about the financial arrangements for the staging of a concert for President Barack Obama in College Green was sufficient to resolve a complaint by MCD Productions, a company involved in the work done in preparation for this event.

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint by Mr Brendan Price that an article published in The Sunday Times on 3 July 2011 breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy), Principle 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment), Principle 3 (Fairness and Honesty), Principle 4 (Respect for Rights) and Principle 5 (Privacy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by Mrs Frances Cahill that some statements in an article published in the Sunday World on 17 April 2011 were in breach of Principle 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines, because they were rumours or unconfirmed reports reported as fact.

The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint made by the Parliamentary Legal Adviser to the Houses of the Oireachtas on behalf of the Clerk of Dáil Éireann, Mr Kieran Coughlan, and the Oireachtas Service, that an article published in the Irish Mail on Sunday on 20 February 2011 breached Principle 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. A number of other complaints about the article were not upheld, and it was not possible for him to decide on one of the complaints made about the same article under Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy).

The Press Ombudsman has decided that The Sunday Times made an offer of sufficient remedial action to resolve a complaint made by solicitors representing Thomas and Sean McGuinn, t/a Mac Aviation Limited, that an article published on 30 January 2011 breached Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. A further complaint that the article breached Principle 3 of the Code (Fairness and Honesty) was not upheld.