Premier People newspaper to close with immediate effect following civil action

The Premier People newspaper is to close with immediate effect following a Circuit Court civil action involving the owners of two Clonmel-based publications.

Kadenza Consultancies Limited and Niall Dennehy took an action against Jamie O’Flaherty, a former editor of Premier Newspapers, and Premier Newspapers and Media Limited over alleged breaches of company law.

Kadenza had secured an interlocutory injunction against Mr O’Flaherty and his company Premier People from publishing the freesheet newspaper last week.

As part of a settlement reached following a three-day hearing, Mr O’Flaherty agreed to close his operation immediately.

He also gave a court apology to Mr Dennehy saying he regretted any upset his actions had caused.

Details of the settlement were not read out in court.

COLUMN: Sitting Tipperary TD in court to give evidence in a Circuit Court civil action

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When the case was called before Judge Catherine Staines at Nenagh Circuit Civil Court last week, John Hanafin, BL (instructed by Patrick Kennedy of PJ O’Meara and Company, Thurles), for the complainant, told the judge that Mr O’Flaherty had been involved in what he said had been an “egregious breach” of company law and GDPR.

Mr Hanafin outlined that the front page of the Premier People, Mr O’Flaherty’s newspaper, looked “exactly the same” as the front page of Premier South Tipperary News, which was registered to his client Niall Dennehy, who was a director of the company.

He said that his client had invested €60,000 in the operation and Mr O’Flaherty had been appointed editor in April 2021 when he was a director and secretary of Kadenza.

However, Mr O’Flaherty had now failed in his fiduciary duties and was in breach of his contract as secretary and director.

Mr Hanafin outlined that Premier South Tipperary News had begun as a voluntary paper following discussions in April 2021 and operated as a freesheet with advertising.

The paper had been built up to the point where it was accepted by the Press Council of Ireland, which Mr Hanafin described as a “significant step”.

The paper had built up a good reputation and had a good following with Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts attributed to Premier South Tipperary News.

Mr Hanafin told the court that the company had got to the point where it was viable financially and it was hoped to bring it to the next level.

Judge Staines told Mr Hanafin that she would like to hear directly from Mr Dennehy on how the company had been set up.

Mr Dennehy, who is an Independent councillor on Tipperary County Council, began his evidence by saying he was 69-years-old and “took no pleasure” from seeing Mr O’Flaherty in court.

He stated that around February 2021 he had received an approach from an individual who had asked him if he and his son, Kevin, were interested in setting up a paper. They met and the individual, who was not named in court, brought Mr O’Flaherty to the meeting.

“It was the first time I came across Mr O’Flaherty. It was agreed in principle that we would set up a newspaper. There was the prospect of a new paper doing very well,” he said. However, at the third meeting in March or April that year, the original individual pulled out and Mr Dennehy’s son, Kevin, lost interest in the idea.

“Out of a sense of compassion for Mr O’Flaherty I opted to go forward,” he said.

Mr Dennehy said that the €60,000 was start-up cash and for offices, and any invoices or money would be lodged with the company.

Getting Press Council of Ireland accreditation in February 2023 offered them the chance to get advertising from public bodies and they now had a plan to bring the company forward.

“I went on holidays on May 5 (of this year) and that day, Mr O’Flaherty went to the web company to instruct them to change it to Premier People. We had paid for the website and no one had permission to change it. There was no instruction to delete data,” he said.

Mr Dennehy said the newspaper was due out the following week and while away he got notification it was not out and he believed Mr O’Flaherty had commenced work the previous Monday with the other company.

“It was evident a new paper was ready to be launched. In my mind it was an act of piracy. Our flag had been taken down,” he said.

Mr Dennehy said that the masthead for the Premier South Tipperary News had been produced and he was happy that Mr O’Flaherty had been working on their behalf at that stage.

Mr Dennehy said that he paid around €1,300 to a company to set up the website and paid €117 annually for its maintenance.

He said that the paper’s email address had been changed from info@premiernewspaper.com to info@premierpeople.ie on the morning he went on holidays. He stated that he had received no registered letter to say Mr O’Flaherty had any intention to resign.

Mr Dennehy told Judge Staines that there was no written agreement on how the company would operate.

“It might have been a good idea in hindsight,” he said.

He outlined how the first edition of the Premier People was published in June 2023 and his reaction to it was one of shock. He agreed there had been some exchanges between Kadenza and Mr O’Flaherty which he described as “boardroom noise”.

However, he didn’t at any stage believe Mr O’Flaherty had any intention of doing a solo run. He told Mr Hanafin that he “felt badly” when the paper was launched as it was a “copycat of my paper”. Asked by Judge Staines what he had hoped to achieve through the court action, Mr Dennehy said it was not about money. The aim was to take it forward and proceed with their own newspaper “without the competition of a copycat paper”.

Cross-examined by Tom O’Donnell, BL, (instructed by Charles Daly of Charles C Daly and Company, Cobh) for Mr O’Flaherty, Mr Dennehy said that he had put a lot into the business.

“I collected papers from the printers in Cork and might drop them off to shops on the way back. He (Mr O’Flaherty) probably did as much as I did - 150 outlets across south Tipperary.”

Mr O’Donnell put it to Mr Dennehy that Mr O’Flaherty had set up the web domain in 2021 and that he had approached his client about setting up a political newsletter. Mr Dennehy said they had met in 2021 with the other individual who had brought

Mr O’Flaherty along to the meeting. Asked by Judge Staines about his earlier comment about feeling compassion for Mr O’Flaherty, Mr Dennehy said: “I just got a sense he was a nice guy. When the other person pulled out I said we would keep in touch. We were never to be joint shareholders. I said I would pay the initial overheads - printing costs of €20,000.

“There was a verbal agreement Mr O’Flaherty would be editor-in-chief.”

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He said there was agreement on ownership of the paper and that Mr O’Flaherty would be paid expenses and invest his time in it.

He said the paper was owned by Kadenza because they had the ability to provide all the back-up.

“The newspaper was owned by the company,” he said. Mr Dennehy said his understanding was that when they took the plan somewhere, Mr O’Flaherty would receive a salary and bonuses for performance.

“After accreditation we had a chat and it was suggested we both put €30,000 into the business to take it forward and he could be put on a decent salary. In my mind, he agreed. My understanding is he couldn’t get a loan because he hadn’t employee status,” said Mr Dennehy.

He rejected a suggestion by Mr O’Donnell that the €30,000 offer suggested joint ownership. “I am the owner of Kadenza. The ownership of the paper never came up,” he said. “Was it made clear you would be the 100% owner?” asked Mr O’Donnell.

“He never objected,” replied Mr Dennehy.

Mr O’Donnell put it to Mr Dennehy that in April 2023, he had sent a text message to Mr O’Flaherty saying that he had invested €60,000 and it wasn’t sustainable going forward, that he couldn’t keep that up and the paper was going to have to pay for itself going forward.

Mr Dennehy said that a lot was being made of that exchange but that it was Mr O’Flaherty who always drew up invoices.

“I needed to stir it up, to get him off his backside. I would suggest he threw the toys out of the pram,” said Mr Dennehy. “I didn’t know how much money was due to come in.”

Mr Dennehy told the court that Mr O’Flaherty had taken a paycheck for the issue Volume 3, Issue 10, but that it had never come out and that Mr O’Flaherty had instructed that the website be changed.

Mr O’Donnell said to Mr Dennehy that Mr O’Flaherty had messaged him saying the paper would not come out and he had replied with a thumbs-up symbol.

Mr Dennehy said Mr O’Flaherty had the ability to get money into the account and to go ahead with printing the paper.

Mr O’Donnell read a registered letter his client sent to Mr Dennehy stating that he was resigning with immediate effect and asking that Mr Dennehy submit the correct B10 form to the Companies Registration Office. “I didn’t acknowledge receipt of the registered letter.

He never replied to other registered letters we sent,” he said.

Mr Dennehy said that he sent the registered letter to the external accountant.

He didn’t deny that he had received a further resignation letter on May 28, 2023.

Mr O’Donnell put it to Mr Dennehy that the domain site had been set up by his client, to which Mr Dennehy said that that was not right and if that happened then he was misled.

Mr O’Donnell said they had been registered by Mr O’Flaherty in April using his own email address and he had made payments on them in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

“He set up and paid the annual fee from his own personal account,” said Mr O’Donnell. Mr Dennehy replied that for some reason Mr O’Flaherty had not been acting in the best interest of the goodwill he had exhibited towards him.

“I consider it an underhand tactic,” said Mr Dennehy. He said that he had suggested the title South Tipperary News when they met in February but Mr O’Flaherty was aware of the use of Premier because the other individual had said Premier.

Mr Dennehy again said that he owned the domain and paid out of his own finances for it.

He was aware that there was an interlocutory injunction preventing Mr O’Flaherty from bringing out his paper last week.

Put to him again by Mr O’Donnell that Mr O’Flaherty had resigned on May 2, 2023, Mr Dennehy said that the procedure had not been concluded and the Company Registration Office would not allow it until a new director and secretary had been appointed.

Mr Hanafin interjected to say no one was obliged to facilitate a pirated paper.

Mr O’Donnell said that the injunction had been granted on the basis of full and frank disclosure but that what had been submitted was a “selected version of events” which had failed to mention that Mr O’Flaherty had resigned and that there were no funds to publish the paper.

Mr Dennehy said that he had been trying to get Mr O’Flaherty to collect money.

Mr Hanafin said that, to that day, Mr O’Flaherty was legally secretary and director of Kadenza and he was going to compete with a company of which he was legally a director and secretary.

Mr Dennehy agreed there was no non-compete clause and no agreement in place.

Mr O’Flaherty did not give evidence in court, but there was a sworn affidavit submitted setting out his defence.

Following a number of submissions, the hearing adjourned to Thursday afternoon when a final settlement was reached following lengthy negotiations.

Judge Staines complimented all parties for their “sensible approach”.