Village has taken the Irish Examiner to the Press Ombudsman over its misreport of the Mark Dearey case against Village which Dearey dropped in April after the parties agreed non-financial terms including a reiteration of an apology. Village had already given for a mistake but no concession of the alleged defamation for which Dearey had taken the case. Reporter Ray Managh, fresh from making seven inept mistakes in a previous report in the Irish Times at an earlier stage of the case, blew it again. In July Managh professed himself “stunned” by the allegations in Village’s complaint and asked the Ombudsman to halt the investigation pending his production of a copy of the transcript of the case – and went to the Circuit Court to obtain it. Although the Ombudsman is not treating Managh as a party to its investigation, it granted the postponement he sought. On 4 December Tim Vaughan, the Examiner’s editor wrote to the Ombudsman pronouncing that “I am not in a position to furnish you with my response to the complaint but hope to be able to do so very shortly. I regret this delay, which unfortunately is unavoidable”. Nobody can tell Village what has happened to Ray Managh and his court application.
