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Lawyers for singer Dana Rosemary Scallon have said she is to receive a second six-figure sum in settlement of a defamation claim over an article in the Sunday World newspaper.
In November 2018, Dana received a similar sum at the High Court in Belfast over the article published in the newspaper in 2014.
The Court of Appeal in Dublin was told on Monday that proceedings by Dana against Independent News & Media and Sunday Newspapers, and an appeal concerning various pre-trial applications, were settled and could be struck out.
Her lawyers said the Sunday World had also unreservedly apologised again to Dana and her family for the hurt caused and the damage to her name and reputation.
Her lawyers said Sunday World had published false claims that she had given evidence connected to her brother, John Brown, who was acquitted in 2014 of sex abuse charges dating from the 1970s.
She sued after the Sunday World published a report online and on its Facebook page falsely stating that she had given evidence at the trial about steps she had taken in relation to him.
Her lawyers said the report was without foundation.
Despicable lie
In a statement after the matter was before the Court of Appeal on Monday, Dana said the publication was a despicable lie, falsely claiming that she had engaged in a cover-up of child sex abuse.
The publication should never have been published and was a completely groundless, malicious and unjustified assault on her reputation and all she stood for.
It was unacceptable that it had taken seven years to bring the matter to a close in Dublin, given that the publisher had admitted in Belfast in 2018, that the article was false, she said.
Dana’s solicitor, Kevin Winters, said it had been a long battle for Dana but he was delighted that she had been vindicated once again.
In an apology, the Sunday World said it unreservedly withdrew the groundless and false allegations. It said it apologised sincerely to Dana for the distress and harm caused to her and to her family.