Mary Lou McDonald moves ahead with RTÉ defamation case

A notice of intention to proceed was filed last week.

A notice of intention to proceed with the case was filed in the High Court on Friday as part of the Sinn Féin leader's lawsuit against the national broadcaster.

The matter stems from a segment broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland in early 2022, where exclusion of coalition politicians from a National Women’s Council rally was brought up.

Ms McDonald did not participate in the discussion, however controversy arose when the programme referred to Sinn Féin’s handling of allegations involving Máiría Cahill, who said she had been raped by a suspected senior IRA figure.

Prior to last week’s notice, the case had seen minimal activity, with the only recorded proceedings being two motion hearings held in 2023.

The case has been one of controversy, with the Index on Censorship filing a media freedom alert with the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists.

The organisation said it was “alarmed at the legal action”, which it considered characteristic of a strategic lawsuit against public participation (Slapp).

The Sinn Féin leader responded to this, arguing that protecting press freedom and safeguarding an individual’s reputation were not mutually exclusive.

Ms McDonald has previously pursued several legal actions, including a 2018 defamation case against former Fianna Fáil TD Declan Breathnach over a tweet, which was settled with an apology in 2020.

A separate 2014 case she and Pearse Doherty brought against the Irish Examiner over coverage of the Máiría Cahill case was also settled.

Just last year, former party leader Gerry Adams was also awarded €100,000 in a defamation action against the BBC following a Spotlight report linking him to the killing of ex-party official Denis Donaldson, an allegation he denied.