WILLIE O’DEA CLAIMS he paid more than was necessary in a payout to Sinn Féin’s Maurice Quinlivan. Mr Quinlivan had taken a libel action against the then-Minister of Defence, but they reached a settlement after Mr O’Dea apologised for making false and defamatory statements against him. The comments were made in an interview with a Limerick newspaper in March 2009.
Mr O’Dea told the Limerick Leader that it had been a difficult six months for him, and that he had paid “over and above what the actual libel was worth, according to legal advice – multiples of what the libel was worth.”
Last week, the DPP said it would not prosecute Mr O’Dea for falsely claiming Mr Quinlivan was connected with a brothel. In Feburary, Mr O’Dea was forced to resign his cabinet position over the incident.
