Niall O’Connor fined €2,500 for naming murder convict

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Journalist Niall O’Connor was fined €2,500 at the Central Criminal Court after naming one of the boys convicted of Ana Kriegel’s murder during a live radio broadcast. Justice Paul McDermott ordered that he pay within three months or face three months in prison. Cork’s Red FM was fined €10,000, also to be paid within three months.

The proceedings were reported on 1 July 2019. Brendan Grehan, senior counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court that O’Connor was a guest on Red FM’s Neil Prendeville show the morning after the two boys were convicted. Grehan said O’Connor twice inadvertently named the boy known as Boy A after being interviewed for more than 10 minutes.

Solicitor Simon McAleese said O’Connor knew the boys could not be identified but his “brain just slipped”. O’Connor apologised to the court and said it was a complete mistake. The report said identifying the boys was an offence under the Children Act and a court order because they were minors.

Justice McDermott said there was a degree of negligence in naming the boy twice, but he was satisfied it was an error and was neither intentional nor reckless. He said both parties had cooperated, apologised and accepted their guilt.