Mr Cathal Dervan, a sports journalist, yesterday settled his action for damages for alleged libel arising out of an article written by Eamon Dunphy in the Sunday Independent. The article referred to an unnamed journalist as "a scurvy little pup" and "a media non-entity".
The case opened before Mr Justice Kelly and a jury on Friday and resumed yesterday.
When cross-examination of Mr Dervan by counsel for Independent Newspapers was due to resume after lunch, Mr Jack Fitzgerald SC, for Mr Dervan, said that the matter had been settled. Details were not disclosed. Mr Justice Kelly struck out the action and discharged the jury.
During the hearing the court heard that the background to the article in question, which was published on March 10th, 1996, arose from trouble at the FAI over international tickets. There was public discussion and comment on this in the media. A meeting of the 51-member FAI Council was called to deal with motions of confidence or no confidence in the president, Mr Louis Kilcoyne, and the honorary treasurer, Mr Joe Delaney.
Mr Delaney resigned during the meeting and Mr Kilcoyne resigned after a vote. The article appeared shortly after the resignations.
In the article it was stated: "One particular scurvy little pup - a media non-entity - can boast of felling Mr President. RTE, Morning Ireland and Prime Time, in particular, offered this journalist low-life a platform."
It was claimed that the article meant, and was understood to mean, that Mr Dervan had engaged in a deliberate, wrong and unfair campaign against Mr Kilcoyne; had not abided by the ethical standards of his profession; and had deliberately misled the public in connection with the controversy surrounding the subject matter of the article.
The defendants admitted that some, although not all, of the words complained of referred to, and were understood to refer to, Mr Dervan. They also pleaded that the words complained of were fair comment on a matter of public interest.
Under cross-examination yesterday by Mr Kevin Feeney SC, for the defence, Mr Dervan, of Ireland on Sunday, was referred to a transcript of an interview he did for Morning Ireland at the time. Mr Dervan said that his sole point in that interview related to the integrity of the FAI.
He agreed with counsel that he was entitled to make strong comment in the sports area and he had made comments in relation to the FAI at the time. He felt that Mr Kilcoyne, along with other officers, should have resigned, and he felt that he was entitled to express that opinion. He was not part of any campaign.
Mr Feeney also referred Mr Dervan to several articles he had written about sports matters and the comments he had made. He had voiced the opinion in one article that Mr Dunphy had been harsh on Jack Charlton and excessively kind to Mr Kilcoyne.
Mr Dervan said he had no problem with Mr Dunphy's integrity as a journalist, but it was his opinion that Mr Dunphy had treated Mr Kilcoyne with "velvet gloves". He agreed that he had strong views about the proposed move of Wimbledon to Dublin and had described supporters of the move as "Wimbledon weasels". He denied that this meant they were sly and deceitful. He was trying to convey that they were seeking to get the London club into Ireland "by the back door".
Mr Dervan acknowledged that, in an article he wrote for the Title in April 1997, he stated that the Republic of Ireland soccer manager, Mick McCarthy, was being shamefully put on trial by a collection of failed footballers, pitiful radio hosts and ageing presenters. The article was about Eamon Dunphy, among other people.
Mr Dervan said he had not taken up the Sunday Independent's offer of a right to reply to the Dunphy article. Nothing he could have written could undo the damage and hurt caused by the Dunphy article.
The Sunday Independent had stated in its offer that his reply would be subject to the usual editorial controls, but the Dunphy article did not seem to be subject to any constraints.
Mr Dervan agreed that in another article criticising the attempt to bring Wimbledon to Ireland he had described the U2 manager, Mr Paul McGuinness, a supporter of the idea, as "Paul McGenius", and Eamon Dunphy as "Eamon Dead". In the feature, a skull had appeared in the place of Mr Dunphy's head.