MCKEVITTS TO SUE FOR DEFAMATION
McKevitts to sue media for 'defamation'
TWO members of the 32-County Sovereignty Committee are taking legal action for defamation in the wake of media coverage of the Omagh bombing.
Michael and Bernadette McKevitt have instructed their solicitors to take proceedings against a number of media organisations in relation to "various false and defamatory statements'' published about them in the past week.
Ms McKevitt, a sister of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and vice-chairwoman of the dissident 32-County Sovereignty Committee, condemned the Omagh atrocity on radio during the week. She and her partner Michael McKevitt, who live outside Dundalk, Co Louth, have also denied any involvement in the bombing. In a faxed letter, Dundalk and Dublin-based solicitors MacGuill and Company said their clients were being requested virtually on an hourly basis to make statements to the media.
"We have advised our clients that in the light of the gravity of the defamatory material that it will be necessary for them to take proceedings and they have instructed us to take the necessary action. For that reason our clients on our advice, are making no comment pending the determination of those proceedings,'' the letter stated.
Meanwhile, the shop run by Ms Sands-McKevitt in the Long Walk Shopping Centre in Dundalk was closed yesterday. It is understood that when she arrived at the centre yesterday morning there was a garda presence outside the main entrance. Papers were handed to her and she left the shopping centre. This afternoon a massive crowd is expected to gather for a peace demonstration in Dundalk. The silence march from Roden Place to the Market Square will start at 5pm.
The priest who spoke to Michael McKevitt about the Omagh bombing has been sent hate mail because of the telephone contact.
Father Desmond Campbell (82), who is based in Mr McKevitt's home parish of Blackrock, near Dundalk, said he was being targeted for talking to Mr McKevitt. Mr McKevitt contacted the priest this week to tell him he had "no hand, act or part'' in the Real IRA bomb blast in Omagh last weekend.
TWO members of the 32-County Sovereignty Committee are taking legal action for defamation in the wake of media coverage of the Omagh bombing.
Michael and Bernadette McKevitt have instructed their solicitors to take proceedings against a number of media organisations in relation to "various false and defamatory statements'' published about them in the past week.
Ms McKevitt, a sister of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and vice-chairwoman of the dissident 32-County Sovereignty Committee, condemned the Omagh atrocity on radio during the week. She and her partner Michael McKevitt, who live outside Dundalk, Co Louth, have also denied any involvement in the bombing. In a faxed letter, Dundalk and Dublin-based solicitors MacGuill and Company said their clients were being requested virtually on an hourly basis to make statements to the media.
"We have advised our clients that in the light of the gravity of the defamatory material that it will be necessary for them to take proceedings and they have instructed us to take the necessary action. For that reason our clients on our advice, are making no comment pending the determination of those proceedings,'' the letter stated.
Meanwhile, the shop run by Ms Sands-McKevitt in the Long Walk Shopping Centre in Dundalk was closed yesterday. It is understood that when she arrived at the centre yesterday morning there was a garda presence outside the main entrance. Papers were handed to her and she left the shopping centre. This afternoon a massive crowd is expected to gather for a peace demonstration in Dundalk. The silence march from Roden Place to the Market Square will start at 5pm.
The priest who spoke to Michael McKevitt about the Omagh bombing has been sent hate mail because of the telephone contact.
Father Desmond Campbell (82), who is based in Mr McKevitt's home parish of Blackrock, near Dundalk, said he was being targeted for talking to Mr McKevitt. Mr McKevitt contacted the priest this week to tell him he had "no hand, act or part'' in the Real IRA bomb blast in Omagh last weekend.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/092
Published Date: 22-Aug-98
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