Ahern condemns inaccurate Lawlor reports

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has criticised the reporting of Liam Lawlor's death in certain sections of the media.

Speaking in Dublin today, Mr Ahern said: "While journalists have a job to do, things were written that should not have been."

He said whenever "there was a race to the bottom it was dangerous".

Several Sunday newspapers yesterday published articles claiming the former Fianna Fáil politician - who was killed in a car crash in Moscow on Saturday - had been in a red light district of the city in the company of a woman who was "likely to be a prostitute".

Later it emerged the woman was, in fact, a business associate of Mr Lawlor's and that both had been travelling directly from the airport.

Earlier today Independent Newspapers publicly apologised to the family of Mr Lawlor for a report in the Sunday Independentthat it described as "inaccurate".

The National Union of Journalists welcomed the apology from Independent Newspapers and called on media organisations to show sensitivity towards the Lawlor family "at this tragic time".

The NUJ's Irish Secretary, Séamus Dooley, said: "The Sunday Independent's coverage of the death of Liam Lawlor was especially reprehensible and cannot be defended; it is also regrettable that other newspapers appear to have reproduced the unsubstantiated allegations regarding Mr Lawlor without checking the story.

Mr Dooley said the public was "entitled to expect truth and accuracy from newspapers and clearly there are lessons to be learned from these grave lapses of judgment.

"The fierce commercial competition in the Sunday newspaper sector is no justification for abandoning basic standards of accuracy and decency," he said.

Labour senator and former journalist Kathleen O'Meara said the media coverage surrounding Mr Lawlor's death "pointed up" the need for a press council in Ireland.

"One of the most objectionable elements of the coverage of Liam Lawlor's death was that the dead can't sue for libel and Mr Lawlor's family have no formal mechanism for seeking redress for the publication of totally inaccurate and offensive material about him," she said.

Mr Dooley said: "The NUJ favours the establishment of press council and has long argued for greater media accountability."