Courts / Ireland / Report

RTE must provide Sean Gallagher with documents over Tweetgate row

Summary

The High Court ruled that RTE must provide Sean Gallagher with specific documents for his action against the broadcaster arising from the 'Tweetgate' incident during the 2011 presidential election. Mr Justice Paul Gilligan granted Mr Gallagher's motion for discovery, rejecting RTE's opposition that the request was an overly broad 'trawl'. The judge determined that limiting discovery to documents created on the date of the October 24, 2011, Frontline debate or the following week would be 'too restrictive' and risk injustice. He found that Mr Gallagher was not engaging in a fishing expedition and that compliance would not be unnecessarily costly. The court ordered RTE to produce documents created between October 24, 2011, and November 18, 2012, including materials from the 'McGuinness4president' Twitter account, verification protocols, and unredacted copies of Rob Morrison's internal review. The matter was adjourned for one week to allow both parties to consider the judgement. In his action, Mr Gallagher seeks a declaration that the debate was deliberately and unfairly edited to damage his electoral prospects, along with damages for alleged breach of statutory duty, negligence, and misfeasance in public office. His claim includes exemplary damages arising from comments allegedly made by Pat Kenny. RTE denies these claims, contending that Mr Gallagher damaged his own prospects through his response to assertions regarding payments to a group of people.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: RTE must provide Sean Gallagher with documents over Tweetgate row. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision

When:

• October 24th 2011 Incident
• November 18th 2012 Incident
• November 2012 Other
• October 2011 Adjournment
• 2014-05-29 Publication

Why: Mr Gallagher's lawyers had asked the court for orders compelling RTE to discover certain categories of documents because they were unhappy with the scope of documents that RTE was prepared to make available to them. CNI source report

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Stage Hearing Or Decision

Read the original CNI report