SCIENCE WRITER AND researcher David Robert Grimes is taking legal action against former Irish Independent journalist and recent European elections candidate Gemma O’Doherty.

High Court proceedings were issued by Grimes against O’Doherty yesterday.

It is understood the proceedings relate to comments made about Grimes on a social media platform.

Gemma O’Doherty is a former Irish Independent journalist. She attempted to run for President in last year’s Áras election, but was unable to secure the required four nominations from local authorities to get on the ballot.

She also ran for the European elections this year in the Dublin constituency, where she secured 6,659 first preference votes, finishing 12th out of 19 candidates.

O’Doherty has been a controversial figure on social media in recent years, and regularly issues posts criticising Ireland’s media, political parties and immigration policies.

She has been critical of vaccines and vaccine programmes in the past. She is a founder of Anti-Corruption Ireland, which has called for the HPV vaccine to be banned.

Grimes is a cancer researcher and physicist who has written for a number of publications including The Irish Times and The Guardian. He has commented extensively on matters relating to vaccination and the importance of vaccinating children, including on TheJournal.ie’s Explainer podcast.

A solicitor for Grimes said he couldn’t comment on the case. A call to Gemma O’Doherty hadn’t been returned at time of publication.

With reporting from Stephen McDermott