The Press Ombudsman has decided not to uphold a complaint from the chief executive of DAA, Kenny Jacobs, against The Irish Times.
Mr Jacobs, who is involved in an ongoing dispute with the airport authority’s board over several matters, complained that an article published in July was in breach of two aspects of the Press Council’s code of practice.
Solicitors for Mr Jacobs said the article, the print edition of which carried the headline “Airport chief failed to tell Ryan about airline shares”, breached the code in terms of truth and accuracy, and in relation to distinguishing fact and comment.
The article said Mr Jacobs failed to declare shareholdings in several airlines to the Department of Transport before joining the board of DAA as chief executive, despite then-minister for transport, Eamon Ryan, asking him to set out any potential conflicts of interest.
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Mr Jacobs, through his solicitors, said the article implied the airport executive had acted improperly whereas the publication knew he had complied with all his legal obligations. The board did not regard the shareholdings as constituting a conflict of interest after the appropriate disclosures were made via the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo), the solicitors said.
They said the allegation that the shareholdings amounted to a conflict of interest was presented as an established fact in the article and the headlines associated with it, when in truth this was “no more than conjecture”.
The Irish Times, in response, said the focus of the article was on how Mr Jacobs had not disclosed his shareholdings to Mr Ryan. It said this was despite the minister’s request that any matters with the potential to “cause a conflict of interest” be brought to the attention of the department.
The article quoted a statement from DAA that the shareholdings were fully disclosed to Sipo, The Irish Times said in response to the complaint. The headlines on both the print and online versions of the article made no reference to a conflict of interest and were focused on the facts, it said.
The Ombudsman, Susan McKay, decided the article was focused on Mr Jacobs’ dealings with the department and the minister’s request that Mr Jacobs advise of any potential conflicts of interest.
She found it was reasonable to consider it might have been appropriate for Mr Jacobs to have declared the shareholdings, given the shareholdings subsequently became a matter of public controversy.
The Ombudsman said the article set out the story accurately, did not claim the shareholdings amounted to a conflict of interest and was not in breach of the code.
The decision was issued on December 1st, with two weeks to appeal. No appeal has been received.
