Man told to return €90,000 paid out as part of libel award

A man who was paid one-tenth of a €900,000 award made by a High Court jury against a newspaper, which was later overturned, must return the €90,000 sum, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Mr Justice Gerard Hogan described as "perverse" the High Court jury's 2008 decision to award €900,000 to Martin McDonagh after it found he was libelled in a Sunday World article entitled "Traveller drug king".

The story followed the seizure by gardaí of IR£500,000 worth of cannabis and amphetamines in August 1999, in Tubbercurry, Co Sligo.

Mr Justice Hogan said the evidence pointed to the conclusion that Mr McDonagh, of Cranmore Drive, Sligo, “was, indeed, a drug dealer associated with the drugs seizure in Tubbercurry”.

The High Court put a stay, pending the newspaper's appeal, on payment out of the award. The stay was granted on condition that €90,000 was paid over to Mr McDonagh by the Sunday World and that sum was paid.