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A woman has been awarded €90,000 in damages after the High Court ruled that newspaper articles about her relationship with a priest based on unlawfully tapped phone conversations were a breach of her constitutional right to privacy.

The award is believed to be the first against a non-State entity arising from illegal phone tapping.

The behaviour of Associated Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd in publising articles based on unawfully tapped phone conversations between Michelle Herrity and Fr Heber McMahon in Ireland on Sundaywas “nothing short of outrageous” and could not be condoned in any way whatsoever, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne said.

The judge said there was no doubt Ms Herrity’s phone line was interfered with and a recording device was attached to it at the instigation of Liam Herrity, Ms Herrity’s estranged husband. The court had been told the conversations were tapped by a private investigator at the instigation of Mr Herrity.

Ms Herrity had claimed her husband said they would be published unless she agreed to sign over her interest in the family home for €20,000.

Ms Herrity had sued over breach of her right to privacy and, in a reserved judgment today, Ms Justice Dunne ruled the right to freedom of expression cannot be asserted over information unlawfully obtained even when that information is true and there may be a public interest in publishing information about the conduct of a priest.

She awarded a total €90,000 damages to Ms Herrity, including €30,000 punitive damages, over the articles of November 2003. Punitive damages were awarded because of the use of unlawfully obtained material and the distress caused to Ms Herrity over  the “flagrant and unwarranted” breach of privacy.