Thread by @nwl88444048

Micheal Martin is giving out about the Shinners suing for libel. It's "chilling", he says.
What ever must he think of this shower...

First up, FF TD and serial driving offender Barry Cowen who threatened the Sunday Times if it published details of his driving offences. They went ahead and published anyway. Baz has never sued them.

Next up, and related, we have Thomas Byrne who told local radio in Louth he was "consulting with my solicitors" about claims made by party activist Ken McFadden, about leaking Barry Cowen's transgressions. Thomas never sued on this occasion. But he has previously sued Google.

And we had a near decade long libel battle by FF presidential candidate Sean Gallagher against RTE after RTE's election debate where false claims were read out. It's believed Sean got around €130,000 from RTE in the end.

And Frank Fahey, a junior FF minister who is believed to have received around €150,000 from the Mail, and an undisclosed amount from the Independent.

And we can only delight in the hubris of FF TD Beverley Flynn who was hit with a €1.25m legal bill when she failed in her libel action against RTE. She was still paying it off a decade later!

And isn't it only a couple of months ago that FF junior minister Robert Troy issued a legal threat demanding resolution within 24 hrs. Seems at this remove that Robert was trying to conceal his shady property dealings.

And not sure what happened this case, but ex-FF TD Frank O'Rourke blamed posts on Twitter and Facebook for his loss of his seat in #ge2020. The case appears to have petered out.

And while ex-FF minister Pat Carey is suing the publisher of the Independent about stories of child abuse, he is suing for privacy and breach of confidentiality and not specifically, defamation.

And although a FF councillor these days, Colm Keaveney was a FF TD in 2015/16 when he issued several defamation claims against the publisher of the Independent. Is one of these cases still ongoing?

And when RTE Investigates conducted an undercover sting which exposed sleaze, if not downright corruption, by local councillors in planning matters, it was FF's Joe Queenan who threated to sue RTE for libel. He never did.

Thanks to @saoirse161616 below for reminding us of FF minister [until 2010] Martin Cullen who sued RTE Liveline and the publishers of the Sindo and publishers of The S*n for false allegations of adultery. The RTE case was settled in 2009. No word on damages though.

Martin Cullen didn't sue the Indo about this altogether separate shaggy dog story, but there's a fair chance he received compo anyways. It's an hilarious apology though.

The most senior FF politician to sue for defamation was Albert Reynolds who was awarded 1 shiny new penny in compo, and he had to foot around €500,000 for his own legal costs in an action against the Sunday Times.