Treacy and the Irish Daily Mail

The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint made on behalf of Ms Jean Treacy that an article in the Irish Daily Mail on 30 January 2010 was in breach of her privacy under Principle 5 of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Periodicals.

The complainant was a witness in a murder trial, during the course of which evidence was given about many details of her private life. The article published in the Irish Daily Mail on 30 January included general background information about the complainant’s childhood, school and family, as well as other material based on the evidence given by her in court.

Any alleged breach of privacy has to be considered on its merits in the context of the Code of Practice.
The publication of any evidence given during the course of a court case is protected by the Code of Practice, since it is material that is on the public record.

The journalistic publication of personal information about an individual is not, in itself, evidence of a breach of the Code of Practice, which defines the right to privacy in terms of the “private and family life, home and correspondence” of citizens. In the very specific circumstances and context of the court case concerned, there was a legitimate journalistic interest in providing additional information about the complainant. For that reason, the issue is whether the information published about the complainant, other than information derived from the evidence given in the trial, was a breach of her privacy under Principle 5 of the Code.

The personal information published about the complaint in this article, other than material about her private life that featured in evidence, was generally inconsequential, or already in the public domain, and of a type that can reasonably be regarded as a legitimate subject for journalistic enquiry. In this respect it did not present a breach of Principle 5 of the Code of Practice.