Irish Media, Fearing Lawsuits, Steers Clear of a Billionaire

When the financial crash hit in 2008, it plunged Ireland into a crippling recession from which it has only recently stirred. But the toxic legacy of those years has not gone away, and now it has provoked another crisis, this time over media freedom.

A clash between one of Ireland’s richest and best-known businessmen, Denis O’Brien, and the national broadcasting company, RTE, has reopened wounds from the crash, raising questions about conflicts of interest at the top of Irish society, and about constraints on the country’s media. At stake is whether journalists should report disputed allegations about some of the past financial dealings of Mr. O’Brien, a billionaire who amassed a fortune in the cellphone sector and has extensive media interests. The issue peaked when an Irish lawmaker, Catherine Murphy, made claims in the Irish Parliament, the Dail, about relations between O’Brien and a publicly run financial institution. Such speeches are normally covered by parliamentary privilege and can therefore be published and reported on without risk of a libel suit. Not this time. While Murphy’s comments were made public on Parliament’s website, the Irish media largely avoided repeating them.