ECHR ruling and ‘The Irish Times’

Sir, – Regarding the European Court of Human Rights ruling on the question of The Irish Times's costs of its legal battle with the Mahon tribunal (Front Page, October 24th), a battle that the newspaper won, by the way, it is a sad day for freedom of expression and freedom of the press. It's all very well to shrug our shoulders, but this judgment will have a chilling effect on media freedom, particularly in those European states where freedom of the press is still something of a comparative novelty. – Yours, etc,

PATRICIA O’RIORDAN,

Dublin 8.

Sir, – I can hear the howls of anguish from the chattering classes as it dawns on them that even their sacred cow, The Irish Times, is not entitled to take upon itself , in the words of the European Court of Human Rights, a "role properly reserved to the courts". – Yours, etc,

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CHLOE M RYAN,

Ballinteer,

Co Dublin.