We can conclude from both these cases that 2 Dublin libel juries were not convinced that evidence about Adams and de Rossa being past members of underground and secretive republican organisations meant they had no reputation to defend. Libellous allegations were thrown at Adams and de Rossa, judged on their own merits, and the politicians earned substantial damages.

The Eoghan Harris case is different because, since 1990 when he left the Workers’ Party (previously Sinn Féin – the Workers’ Party, Official Sinn Féin etc), this individual rapidly transformed himself into an extreme right-wing commentator who identified strongly with Irish Unionism. Harris rants appeared weekly in the pages of the Sunday Independent, when it was owned by a West-British businessman, Sir Anthony O’Reilly. Harris also became a cheerleader for the corrupt former taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, Bertie Ahern.

These services earned Harris a Bertie Ahern gift – nomination to the Irish Senate.

Things went wrong for Harris when a new billionaire owner took over the Sunday Independent.

The Sunday Independent editor Alan English took strong action, as it emerged that Harris had made a number of anonymous attacks on prominent female journalists. The forthcoming libel case will be very interesting.