PENALTY POINTS were wiped after they were accrued by a car registered to an Independent News and Media editor.



Stephen Rae was involved in the decision to make leading journalist Gemma O’Doherty redundant in the weeks after she approached the Garda commissioner to check if he had penalty points removed from his licence. O'Doherty was the only Irish Independent journalist to suffer compulsory redundancy in the company's round of restructuring.

A vehicle registered to Rae, editor-in-chief of the Irish Independent and other INM titles, accrued penalty points at 6.37am on November 5, 2009 at the N11, Belfield, Dublin before the points were terminated.

The Irish Post contacted Mr Rae, who said: "I'm not commenting."

The Garda Press Office have also been contacted in respect of this incident but they said they "do not comment on individual cases.”


Stephen Rae is a former editor of Garda Review magazine and was editor of The Irish Independent when Gemma O’Doherty approached the home of Garda commissioner Martin Callinan, seeking to confirm that he had penalty points wiped out.

In the weeks that followed O’Doherty lost her title as travel editor with the Weekend magazine before she was forced to take compulsory redundancy.

Her forcing out has brought condemnation from journalists at top British and international publications but has so far been ignored by Ireland’s leading newspapers and RTE.

O’Doherty is best known for her investigation of the death of Father Niall Molloy in 1985. Her reportage from 2010 onwards led to the case being reopened.