Geraldine Kennedy and Colm Keena. Photo: Matt Kavanagh, The Irish Times
The editor of The Irish Times Geraldine Kennedy and reporter Colm Keena have been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay €600,000 in legal costs in the case they won in not disclosing their sources to the Mahon Tribunal for the story about monies paid to the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, while he was minister for finance.
Today’s ruling was made on the basis that the journalists were found to have frustrated the court by destroying documents. Commenting on the verdict to present them with the legal bill, Kennedy told Pat Kenny on RTE Radio 1 that she was “very disappointed”, particularly as their actions had been vindicated.
She said they would be considering their options and that may include taking their case to Europe. Kenny suggested to her that the ruling appeared to be a “that’ll-teach-you” reaction to journalists protecting their sources, a way of saying there is a price to pay for how one upholds certain principles.
