Social Media Under New Scrutiny In Paddy Jackson Libel Row

Lawyers for the Ulster and Ireland rugby star Paddy Jackson have confirmed that they intend to sue a Labour senator, in relation to comments made on Twitter, following the acquittal of the four men earlier this week.

A statement has been issued by KRW Law, the firm that represented Jackson in the rape trial case.

"I can confirm we have issued pre-action libel correspondence against a named Senator in the Republic of Ireland,” a Senior Associate at the firm, Marie Hans, said. "The legal action relates to a tweet sent to a number of other persons before it was eventually taken down.”

Reports have confirmed that Aodhán Ó Riordáin – with whom Hot Press has worked closely on a number of important issues – is the Senator in question.

The KRW statement makes it clear that the firm will be monitoring social media activities and intends to sue anyone responsible for implying any form of guilt to Paddy Jackson. In a statement immediately after the acquittal, Jackson’s lawyer Joe McVeigh was extremely critical of the role played by social media during the course of the trial, suggesting that it ha tainted the entire process of justice in the case.

There may well be considerable material in what was published on Twitter and Facebook, both during the trial and since, for a defamation case to be mounted – whether against an array of individuals or indeed against the social media companies themselves.
"We will not hesitate to repeat similar legal action against anyone, who deliberately or otherwise, sees fit to attack our client,” Marie Hans added. "We are examining carefully every item of social media commentary which seeks to challenge the integrity of the jury's full endorsement of our client's innocence. High Court proceedings will issue shortly in both Belfast and Dublin.''

Meanwhile, the Dublin-based website broadsheet.ie is at the centre of another controversy in relation to the case.

Following criticisms of the verdict, one of the jurors posted comments regarding the trial on the comments section of the website. The story was uncovered and highlighted by the Irish Times, and the juror later contacted the newspaper to defend having made the comments – apparently insisting that she had not breached the instructions given by the trial judge, Patricia Smyth, which were not to discuss the "deliberations of the jury."

The juror had subsequently been advised by the Lord Chief Justice in Northern Ireland to remove the comments from the website, and she had done so. The matter has also been reported to the PSNI. A spokesperson for the police confirmed that an investigation into the events is ongoing. The role of broadsheet.ie in allowing the breach to occur may also come under scrutiny.

Unless they are properly monitored and curated, ‘comments’ sections on websites can play a similar role to that of social media companies, with libellous and damaging material regularly appearing online on a variety of websites.