Minister cost RTÉ €100,000 in defamation settlement

The Fr Kevin Reynolds libel affair caught RTÉ with its pants down and who was first up to give then a good smack? Pat Rabbitte, of course, but now it turns out he's caused his own libel too.

When the BAI report was released on the whole Prime Time Investigates debacle the Minister was first on the national airwaves calling it a "shoddy, unprofessional and cavalier piece of work". That was a little bit cheeky considering the fact that at that very moment the station was settling a libel suit which Rabbitte had caused.

It's estimated that Montrose bosses handed over €100,000 to settle the defamation action against the station. It was taken after Pat Rabbitte made comments about the wrongful charging of a Dublin man over the murder of two women in 1997.

Confused? Well, basically Pat said something live on air that both the man and RTÉ thought was defamatory. Hence the payout.

Pat was due to be called as a witness in the case before it was settled. His party leader, Eamon Gilmore said: "I understand that this was settled by RTE and I'm sure RTE had good reasons for settling the case."

So maybe Pat should've chosen his words a bit more carefully - in both instances.