Lawyers for singer Dana Rosemary Scallon have said she has received a second six-figure sum in settlement of a defamation claim against the Sunday World newspaper.
In November 2018, Dana received a similar sum at the High Court in Belfast over the article published in the newspaper in 2014. The newspaper apologised to Ms Scallon again at the court of appeal in Dublin yesterday. Her lawyers said the newspaper had published false claims that she had given evidence connected to her brother, John Brown who was acquitted in 2014 of sex abuse charges dating from the 1970s.
In a statement, Dana said the publication was a despicable lie, falsely claiming that she had engaged in a cover up of child sex abuse. She said it was unacceptable that it had taken seven years to bring the matter to a close in Dublin, given that the publisher had admitted in Belfast in 2018 that the article was false. In its apology, the newspaper said it unreservedly withdrew the groundless and false allegations.
It said it apologised sincerely to Dana for the distress and harm caused to her and to her family.
