The Press Ombudsman has decided to uphold a complaint by a former public representative that a reference to him in an article in the Irish Independent was in breach of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. The article stated that the complainant was among a number of public representatives who had privately made representations to ministers of the last government against proposals to lower the blood-alcohol limit.
The newspaper submitted evidence that the complainant had written letters to government ministers forwarding the views of some of his constituents on this issue and asking the ministers concerned to investigate the matter. It made available copies of these letters it had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
However, there was insufficient evidence, either in the newspaper’s response to the complaint or in the material it submitted, to verify the statement in the article that the complainant had privately made representations to ministers against the proposals. The complaint is therefore upheld.
