Gallagher, Price and KRW Law’s Booth, which was commissoned by Boyla

Solicitors from a Belfast law firm, who co-wrote a report on the concentration of ownership in Irish media, claim their lives have been put at risk by a statement by Denis O’Brien criticising their findings.

Last Thursday, KRW Law wrote to O’Brien to complain about a statement issued by his spokesman James Morrissey, in response to a report compiled by the lawyers for the GUE/NGL group in the European parliament, which includes Sinn Fein.

The report, commissioned by the Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan, criticised O’Brien’s level of media ownership in the Republic and said this, coupled with his tendency to sue for defamation, had the potential for a “chilling effect” on news-gathering and reporting in the public interest.

While acknow-ledging that O’Brien was “unhappy”