The Chief State Solicitor, the Chief State Solicitor's Office and John Corcoran.
On the 18th of October 1996 The Irish Times published an article under the heading "Tribunal may lack legal bite" by Prof David Gwynn Morgan. The subject matter of the article was the forthcoming Tribunal of Inquiry into Hepatitis C contaminated blood products.
In the course of the article Prof Gwynn Morgan commented upon the costs of the tribunal legal fees which may be incurred. He drew a parallel with the beef tribunal, commenting as follows:
"On legal fees, probably the main reason the beef tribunal cost so much was a simple piece of carelessness, probably within the Chief State Solicitor's Office, which deals with litigation in which the State is involved".
It has been drawn to The Irish Times's attention that this comment may have been defamatory of the Chief State Solicitor and of the solicitor in the Chief State Solicitor's Office who was intimately involved with the tribunal, namely Mr John Corcoran.
The Irish Times and Prof Gwynn Morgan deeply regret the hurt and damage occasioned by the article and unreservedly apologise. The Irish Times and Prof Morgan accept that neither the Chief State Solicitor's Office nor Mr Corcoran had anything whatsoever to do with the fixing of legal fees payable to lawyers involved in the tribunal and that it was wholly wrong to suggest that there was carelessness of the type suggested in the article or any carelessness or failure on the part of the Chief State Solicitor's Office or of Mr John Corcoran in respect of the question of legal fees before the beef tribunal.