Player gets €11,000 for 'offensive' photograph
A GAA footballer has been awarded a total of €11,000 damages against a provincial newspaper which published a photograph in which his private parts were exposed.
The newspaper now faces legal costs of more then €100,000. Richard Sinnott (24), of Clonegal, Co Carlow, had been awarded €6,500 damages in June 2006 by the Circuit Court for breach of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional harm and negligence arising from the publication by the 'Carlow Nationalist'.
Yesterday, the High Court increased that amount to €11,000. The newspaper is now facing legal costs of more than €100,000 following the lengthy High Court proceedings over the publication in June 2005.
The newspaper had, on pages one and three of its sports section, published pictures of Mr Sinnott taken while he was playing in a GAA match.
His private parts were visible in one photograph and Mr Sinnott had given evidence of being very upset by the publication.
Last year, when rejecting the newspaper's appeal against the findings of the Circuit Court after a seven-day hearing, Mr Justice Declan Budd ruled the publication of the offending photograph was negligent and resulted from "a publishing mess''.
The judge, who earlier in the appeal had observed the photograph featured "all the paraphenalia of human reproduction'', said it "strained all credulity' that the publication was simply accidental.
He believed the problem with the photograph must have been seen by the photographer and the pagemakers.
However, he also accepted the evidence of the newspaper's sports editor, Paul Donaghy, who had said he was not aware of the offending nature of the photo and would not have published it if he was.
Mr Donaghy had described the publication as "a blunder'' and was "stricken with horror'' at its publication, the judge said. The case was before Mr Justice Budd again yesterday and he directed the amount of damages be increased to €11,000, plus costs.
He refused to certify, for determination by the Supreme Court, a point of law in the case relating to the imposition of damages for breach of a constitutional right to privacy arising from a negligent action.
- Tim Healy
