A man who was secretary of Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee in late 1995, Mr John Ward, is to be paid an undisclosed sum in settlement of his High Court action alleging libel by RTE. In court yesterday Mr Michael O'Higgins, for Mr Ward, told Mr Justice Smith the action had been settled. Mr Hugh Mohan, for RTE, read a statement referring to the Morning Ireland programme of December 14th, 1995, during which a member of the visiting committee was interviewed. The interview included general comments on aspects of prison visiting committees with which the programme's contributor fundamentally disagreed.
"RTE acknowledges that the contributor's comments were genuinely held, that they were general in their application and did not refer to or reflect unfavourably on Mr John Ward, who was the secretary of the committee," it was stated.