The High Court ordered The News Group Newspapers Limited to disclose documents in seven of eight categories sought by Louis Walsh in his defamation action, while allowing the newspaper to withhold material that could identify other journalistic sources in two categories. The ruling concerns discovery only; it does not decide the underlying defamation claim or the parties’ disputed allegations about how the story was obtained.
Walsh is suing over a Sun article and website publication on 23 June 2011 reporting that police were investigating a claim that he had sexually assaulted a man in a Dublin nightclub toilet. The judgment records that the allegations were false, that Leonard Watters was prosecuted for making them, and that the defendants accepted Walsh had been completely exonerated.
Walsh alleges that a Sun journalist offered Watters money to make a complaint, paid him €700, and promised further payments. He also alleges that the newspaper misrepresented that police were its source. The defendants denied those claims. They argued that disclosure would risk revealing confidential sources and impair journalism. The judgment does not determine whether the alleged payments or misrepresentations occurred.
Justice O’Neill found that communications with Watters could not be protected simply on the basis that he was a confidential source, because his identity was established. He said those communications should be disclosed unless they could reveal another source, in which case the court could inspect the documents. He also held that communications with An Garda Síochána were relevant to disputed issues about the newspaper’s investigation and its fair-publication defence. The judgment reasoned that journalistic privilege could not shelter disclosure of protected Garda information in the circumstances described.
The court ordered disclosure of categories 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 as sought. Category 1 documents may be withheld if they identify or could identify a source other than Watters or Garda members. Category 3 is limited to expenses relating to Watters. Category 8 carries the same protection for other sources as category 1. If the defendants believe ordered documents could identify other sources, the court may inspect them to decide whether privilege applies.