The Irish News has been ordered to pay a restaurateur £25,000 after a jury
found a review printed in the newspaper about a west Belfast eatery to be
defamatory.
The Belfast newspaper printed a review of Goodfellas restaurant, written by
esteemed food critic Caroline Workman, in a Saturday edition in August 2000.
The review of the Kennedy Way restaurant criticised the quality of food and
drink, the staff and the smoky atmosphere. She gave it a rating of one mark
out of a possible five.
Owner Ciarnan Convery, a former taxi driver who opened the restaurant in
1991, claimed the article was a "hatchet job" and launched a libel
action against the Irish News.
The case was opened at the High Court in Belfast last week and has been
heard in front of Mr Justice Coghlin.
Mr Convery's legal team claimed the review was defamatory, damaging and
hurtful and said the Irish News has failed to apologise or print a
retraction. The claim was denied by the newspaper with its legal team
pleading justification and fair comment.
The jury of four men and three women deliberated the action for an hour and
a half yesterday before returning with a unanimous verdict concluding the
review contained defamatory comments.
The jury also said the Irish News should pay Mr Convery £25,000 damages plus
court costs. Following the verdict, an Irish News spokesman said: "We
have instructed our lawyers to launch an immediate appeal," while Mr
Convery expressed his delight at the ruling.
The Belfast businessman said: "I think justice has been done.
Goodfellas is a successful business and today's verdict has proved to me, my
staff and my customers that we did the right thing by launching the libel
action."
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