Full coverage: defamation

O’Brien’s barrister told the High Court the award of damages totalling €823,500 to two human rights solicitors was “one of the largest" in recent years and asked for a stay until an appeal was heard.

It was a court case that took nine years to go to trial. O’Brien has now lost it, after a “formidable” battle.

A jury has awarded substantial and aggravated damages to two human rights solicitors defamed by a press release issued on behalf of Denis O'Brien in response to a 2016 media report that criticised his then-dominant position in the market.

The jury is set to begin its deliberations on Friday in the defamation suit brought by two solicitors against the businessman and his PR advisor James Morrissey.

The jury has finished hearing evidence in the defamation claim by two human rights lawyers against businessman Denis O'Brien and his PR spokesman James Morrissey, who finished his testimony on Tuesday.

James Morrissey, Denis O'Brien's spokesman, has told a jury that a "fractious history” between republicans and INM was behind a 2016 media report commissioned by a Sinn Féin MEP and criticising the businessman.

Human rights solicitor Gavin Booth testified on Friday that businessman Denis O'Brien's comments on a 2016 report on Ireland's media landscape allegedly suggesting the lawyer was in the pay of the IRA were “way below the line”. 

From "kill all taigs" to bias, and Roy Greenslade's IRA sympathies, day two of lawyers Darragh Mackin and Gavin Booth's defamation suit against businessman Denis O'Brien covered a lot of ground.

Two Belfast human rights lawyers claim a press release issued by the businessman in response to a 2016 report they co-authored on Irish media owners wrongly implied they were in the pay of the IRA. Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan commissioned the report.

A vindicated and victorious Gerry Adams has said his nine-year defamation battle was about "putting manners" on the BBC. The jury found the broadcaster had not acted in good faith and awarded the former Sinn Féin leader €100,000.