Press Council appointment

Mayo coroner appointed to Press Council

Emer Gallagher

CORONER for East Mayo, Patrick O’Connor, has been appointed as a new independent member of the Press Council of Ireland.
Mr O’Connor has 30 years’ experience as a solicitor and is chairman of the Mental Health Tribunal, the appeal board of the Irish Institute of Actuaries, and the appeals panel of the Irish Rugby Football Union.
The 55-year-old former president of the Law Society of Ireland will replace John M Horgan, who resigned earlier this month following the council’s decision not to publish dissenting opinions with its judgements.
The 13-member Press Council was established last year and takes decisions on cases of significance or complexity about the press referred to it by the Press Ombudsman, Professor John Horgan.
Its hearings are held in private, and it decides on each case by interpreting the code of conduct signed up to by newspapers. Once it reaches a decision, its judgement on each complaint is published.