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Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland is suing former colleague John Waters for damages of up to €75,000 for defamation of character.
Ms Holland, 53, of Ranelagh, Dublin, told a judge today that an exclusive story she broke about the tragic death of Savita Halappanaver in University Hospital Galway almost 12 years ago had been vetted by editors and lawyers for three days.
She alleges that Mr Waters had, without specifically naming her, made a claim in an address to a political party conference that she had lied in her report.
Andrew Walker SC, counsel for Ms Holland, told Judge John O’Connor in the Circuit Civil Court, that “the sting of the libel” very simply was a wrong observation by Mr Waters that Ms Holland was not only a bare faced liar but a journalist who started the lie and continued promulgating lies for money and awards.
She said lawyers and editors had gone through practically every syllable of her report over the three days before publishing it in The Irish Times.
She had been very enthusiastic about her scoop but was not under any pressure despite knowing that the Irish Independent’s Fionnan Sheahan had word of it and was “hot on her heels”.
Mr Waters, of Sandycove, Dublin, described in court by his counsel Feargal Kavanagh SC, as a strident pro-lifer in the ‘Repeal the Eighth’ abortion debate leading up to the 2018 referendum, has denied in a full defence that he had defamed Ms Holland or called her a liar.
Outlining the case Mr Walker, who appeared with barrister Shane English and Lavelle Partners Solicitors, said Mr Waters, in a recorded address at a meeting of Renua, had referred to Ms Holland as a liar.
He said the speech had been published to the political party’s annual conference and on the worldwide web.
Ms Holland claimed his remarks meant she was a dishonest reporter, not fit to be a journalist and wholly inaccurate in her journalism, seriously injuring her reputation.
She told the court that after having received a tip-off about Ms Halappanavar’s untimely death she had thoroughly investigated the matter.
Mr Kavanagh, who appeared with barristers Greg Murphy and Conor Rubaclava and Brendan Maloney Solicitor, cross-examined Ms Holland for several hours on the veracity of her report which appeared in The Irish Times on 14 November 2012 under the headline ‘Woman ‘denied a termination’ dies in hospital’.
She said she had never lied in any report she had written over more than 25 years as a journalist.
She felt her story had come to world-wide prominence because of “the story itself” and the fact Ms Halappanavar, who was only 34 at the time of her death, had been refused a termination because of a foetal heartbeat being still present and because she had been told “this is a Catholic country”.
Ms Holland was still under cross-examination when the suggested four-day hearing was adjourned today.
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