A former Kildare Gaelic footballer has been awarded more than €310,000 damages after a judge found he was defamed in newspaper reports about swingers' parties and the sex trade.
Brian Nolan, 49, sued over an article published in the Sunday World on 15 July 2012 that described him as "The King of The Swingers".
He also sued over another article published on 3 March 2013 on the sex trade in Ireland with the headline "Ireland Exposed."
Mr Nolan, who is from Newbridge but now lives in Goatstown in Dublin, played senior football for Kildare in the 1990s.
Mr Justice Tony O'Connor said Mr Nolan was "grossly defamed" in newspaper articles.
The judge said it was a very serious libel, which merited aggravated damages.
Mr Nolan argued the articles carried a number of defamatory meanings, including he organised swingers' parties for financial gain and was involved in the sex trade.
Mr Justice O'Connor found both articles seriously defamed Mr Nolan.
He accepted Mr Nolan's evidence he was brought to swingers' parties by a woman and attended those to try to maintain his relationship with her. He accepted Mr Nolan attended four parties and that he found them distasteful.
In relation to the 2013 article, the judge also said there was "not a shred of evidence" Mr Nolan was involved in prostitution, pimping or any such type of illegal activity.
He warded €250,000 damages, plus €30,000 aggravated damages over the newspaper's conduct, including its failure to reply to his initial letter of complaint.
He also awarded punitive damages, arising from the Sunday World's conduct towards Mr Nolan between 2012 and 2017, of €30,000.
He said the Sunday World had had little regard for the effect of its reports on Mr Nolan's relationship with his estranged wife, his children, his family and community.
Mr Nolan lost access to his children following the reports and was shunned by his family and social circles, he said. This was despite his having pleaded with the journalist not to publish the relevant photos of him.
There was no basis for the newspaper's "vacuous" plea publication of such "salacious material" or the intrusion into Mr Nolan's private life was in the public interest, he also held.
