The Court of Appeal has dismissed Gemma O’Doherty’s appeal seeking to strike out defamation proceedings brought by Fingal County Council member James Guerin before a retrial takes place.
The case concerns publications made by O’Doherty in July 2019 after Mr Guerin’s brother, Martin Guerin, was convicted of possessing child pornography. James Guerin alleges that the publications identified a class of people including him and were defamatory. O’Doherty denies that, maintaining that the material referred specifically to Martin Guerin.
A jury trial began in November 2023 but ended without a verdict after the jury was unable to agree. A retrial was directed. Mr Guerin later amended his claim to include further publications made by O’Doherty in late 2023 and early 2024.
O’Doherty subsequently sought to have the proceedings struck out as abusive, bound to fail and lacking a reasonable cause of action. The High Court rejected that application in March 2025.
Ms Justice Costello, delivering the Court of Appeal judgment, upheld that decision. She found that key questions could not be determined summarily. These include whether the 2019 publications identified Mr Guerin and whether they were fair and accurate court reports capable of attracting absolute privilege under section 17 of the Defamation Act 2009.
The court also rejected arguments based on the public-interest defence, alleged abuse of process, inability to obtain a fair retrial, judicial bias and suspected third-party litigation funding.
The judgment separately addressed O’Doherty’s use of artificial intelligence to prepare appeal submissions. Some cited authorities did not exist. The court issued general guidance requiring parties using AI for legal research to disclose that use and independently verify all authorities before relying on them.
The appeal was dismissed. The court’s preliminary view was that Mr Guerin should receive his appeal costs, subject to further submissions.