Judge Allows Irish Media to Report Lawmaker Remarks on Newspaper Owner

A battle over Irish press freedom pitting some of the country’s biggest media outlets against billionaire newspaper magnate Denis O’Brien came to a head after a judge upheld their right to report remarks made by a lawmaker in parliament.

The case, which centers on whether the media can report allegations that O’Brien benefited unduly from a state-backed lender at a time when the country was struggling under a burden of austerity, also highlights the still-raw wounds left by the 2008 financial crisis that devastated Ireland’s banks and forced the country to seek emergency loans from international lenders. Judge Donald Binchy’s ruling defuses a row that had escalated in recent days, drawing the ire of opposition politicians who accused the businessman of provoking a constitutional crisis by attempting to stop the allegations being aired. It is also a setback for O’Brien, who in May obtained a gagging order to stop reporters from detailing his past financial dealings with the state-backed rump of a bailed-out Irish bank. O’Brien owns the island nation’s leading daily newspaper, The Irish Independent, among other national and regional titles. He denied any wrongdoing and asserted his right for his financial affairs to remain private.