IRELAND
Irish Times
Kathy Sheridan
The parties had announced a settlement. As court 25 emptied out, Dolores Atwood stood with her devoted husband’s arm around her, looking confused and distressed, and began to weep.
RTÉ’s head of news, Kevin Bakhurst; managing editor of current affairs, television, David Nally; and the broadcaster’s solicitor, Patricia Harrington, formed a sympathetic circle around her, attempting to make some kind of sense for her of what had just happened.
Outside, Robert Dore, solicitor for Richard Burke, Archbishop Emeritus of Benin – as he is still known, though out of ministry – leaned against the court railing overlooking Chancery Park, waiting for members of the Burke party to emerge, as word spread that the settlement hadn’t yielded a cent in damages for his client.
Burke had claimed that he was branded a paedophile on RTÉ’s Mission to Prey programme. The case hinged on whether his sexual relationship with Atwood had begun when she was 14 as she claimed, or 20, as he claimed.
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