A Fianna Fáil TD facing trial for alleged assault and public order offences complained to a court yesterday about "sensationalist and inaccurate" reporting of the case. But the judge dismissed the complaints and said it was "not my job to direct the press".
Mattie McGrath, who represents the Tipperary South constituency, was in Clonmel Circuit Court where he is due to be tried for assault causing harm, a breach of the peace and violent disorder.
Five co-defendents, all from Newcastle, Co Tipperary, face related charges of assault causing harm and violent disorder. They are Edmond McGrath, Christopher Cullinan, Jason Ahearne, James Lonergan and Anthony O'Dwyer.
The charges followed a late-night incident outside a pub in Newcastle, a village near Clonmel, on August 14th, 2006. All six men have already pleaded not guilty to the charges during earlier hearings at the District Court.
Yesterday Judge Alice Doyle further remanded the men on continuing bail in their own bonds of €3,000 each. She deferred the case until the next session of the Circuit Court, which begins next February 12th in Clonmel.
Legal sources in Co Tipperary say that the trial is unlikely to be heard "until at least the middle of 2008" because of a backlog of cases.
During yesterday's hearing, counsel for Mr McGrath raised a number of concerns with Judge Doyle. Robbie O'Neill BL asked the judge to "urge restraint on inaccurate and sensationalist reporting in the case". He cited an article in last Sunday's Sunday Independent newspaper headlined "TD tours the scene of his arrest with Minister".
Mr O'Neill said the article referred to a visit to Tipperary last week by Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan during which Mr McGrath had "brought the Minister to see the TD's local Garda station in Newcastle - where he was held last year following a late night fracas in the village".
However, Mr O'Neill pointed out that there is no Garda station in the village and described such reporting as "sensationalist and inaccurate". But the judge said "press reporting was not a matter for this court" and she "could not tell the press what to do".
Mr O'Neill also told the court that he had been unable to obtain various Garda files relating to the case and had been told that gardaí in Dungarvan and Ballymacarbery had "no records of phone calls" made to the station by Mr McGrath. He also reminded the judge that Mr McGrath has lodged a formal complaint to the Garda Complaints Board (predecessor of the Garda Ombudsman) about the Garda's handling of the investigation and he was "anxious that the [ court] case not be heard" until a decision has been reached in that matter.
The judge said that Mr O'Neill should write again to the DPP requesting further disclosure of the relevant documents and said that the complaint to the Garda Complaints Board was "a quite separate and distinct matter" from the case before the court.