Damages of €96,000 each has been awarded by the High Court to two directors of a waterbus service operating in Donegal Bay after finding that they were defamed in articles in a local newspaper.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said Daniel Ward and Sean Quinn were entitled to the awards against the Donegal Times Ltd, The Diamond, Donegal town and its editor, Liam Hyland, who wrote the articles.
The Irish Examiner reports that both men, the judge found, had suffered “very serious damage” to their respective personal and professional reputations.
Mr Ward is the financial controller and Mr Quinn the CEO of Donegal Town Enterprises Scheme Ltd, which operates a leisure boat known as the Donegal Waterbus.
Mr Quinn and Mr Ward had brought defamation proceedings against the paper and editor over articles published by the paper in September and October 2013.
They claimed the articles defamed them and wrongly alleged they were involved in financial mispractices and mismanagement of monies associated with the Donegal Waterbus.
Donegal Town Enterprise Scheme Ltd is a not-for-profit community scheme that promotes marine and tourism activities in and around both Donegal Bay.
Mr Justice McDermott said he was satisfied the men had been defamed in the articles. Their good names had been damaged, they had suffered in their communities, and they were entitled to damages, he said.