Home Office apologises and pays substantial damages to FP McCann Limited

Carson McDowell was pleased to act for FP McCann and its directors in recent libel proceedings before the High Court, Belfast.

The proceedings concluded with the publication of an apology and correction by The Home Office via a Statement in Open Court, by email and on its website, to FP McCann Limited and its directors, as well as paying the plaintiffs substantial damages, and their reasonable legal costs.

The apology was in the following terms:

“An apology to FP McCann Limited and its directors

On 26 March 2024, the Home Office issued a press release which contained false and defamatory allegations concerning FP McCann Limited. The press release stated that FP McCann Limited had been fined up to £225,000 in civil penalties for illegally employing five contractors at a mill in North Wales. This allegation was erroneous and false. The Home Office accepts that FP McCann’s contractors were lawfully entitled to work the site in North Wales. FP McCann has therefore not been fined by the Home Office. The Home Office apologises to FP McCann Limited and its directors for publishing the false and defamatory allegations, and has agreed to pay it substantial damages, and its reasonable legal costs, as a result of the publication of the erroneous press release. My client is grateful to the Court for the opportunity to make this Statement in Open Court, and this Statement concludes this matter on the part of FP McCann Limited and its directors.”

Declan Magee and Fergal McGoldrick, Carson McDowell LLP, instructing Peter Hopkins KC, acted for FP McCann and its directors.

A full copy of the Statement in Open Court can be found at this link.

Court reports of the proceedings were published by a number of news organisations, some of which can be found at these hyperlinks ITV, Belfast Telegraph, The Irish News and BBC.