A report on media ownership in Ireland claims that Denis O’Brien’s “litigious profligacy”, coupled with the scale of his media interests, has the potential to have a “chilling effect” on news gathering and reporting in the public interest.

The report was commissioned by Lynn Boylan, a Sinn Fein MEP, on behalf of the European United Left/ Nordic Green Left parliamentary group and is to be launched tomorrow. It was written by Gavin Booth and Darragh Mackin of KRW Law in Belfast and Caoilfhionn Gallagher and Jonathan Price, of Doughty Street Chambers in London.

The lawyers’ report concludes the lack of media plurality in Ireland is a cause for deep concern. They call on the government to create a commission of inquiry to examine media ownership