BBC given appeal time before paying full Gerry Adams libel damages
Gerry Adams was awarded €100,000 damages, with the BBC also in line to pay his legal costs
- Published
The BBC has been granted time to consider appealing Gerry Adams' libel case victory, before paying all his damages and legal costs.
It follows an application made by the broadcaster in a Dublin court.
The Sinn Féin leader sued the corporation over a 2016 BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight story and online article on the murder of British agent Denis Donaldson.
Last week, a jury found Mr Adams, 76, was defamed when it was alleged by an anonymous contributor that he sanctioned the 2006 killing - a claim he flatly denied.
The combined legal costs of both parties is estimated at between €3-5m (£2.5-4.2m), according to sources with knowledge of the case.
On Tuesday, a barrister representing the BBC made an application, known as a 'stay', on orders relating to damages and costs.
It was granted, subject to paying half the damages and €250,000 (£210,000) towards solicitors' fees.
Eoin McCullough SC, representing the BBC, said it had not yet been determined if it will appeal the verdict.
However, he indicted what the potential grounds could be, including the order of the questions put to the jury on the issue paper.
Mr McCullough also cited the exclusion of some witnesses, including Mr Donaldson's daughter, Jane.
He further claimed the damages award was unsustainable, due to the "very small" circulation of the programme and article, combined with a "very damaged reputation".
Mr Adams has previously said his damages would go to "good causes".
Writing in the Andersonstown News, he stated they would include "the children of Gaza", the Irish language sector, and groups helping the homeless.
The award fell within the "medium" range of defamation compensation.
Who was Denis Donaldson?
Denis Donaldson was a key figure in Sinn Féin and worked closely with former leaders Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams
Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin's rise as a political force in Northern Ireland.
But he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had worked for the police and MI5 inside Sinn Féin for 20 years.
In 2009, the Real IRA said it had murdered him.
Based on sources, Spotlight claimed the killing was the work of the Provisional IRA.
Mr Donaldson was interned without trial for periods in the 1970s and, after signing the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin appointed him as its key administrator in the party's Stormont offices.
In 2005, Mr Donaldson confessed he was a spy for British intelligence for two decades, before disappearing from Belfast.
He was found dead in a small, rundown cottage in Glenties, County Donegal.
Who is Gerry Adams?
Mr Adams was the president of republican party Sinn Féin from 1983 until 2018.
He served as MP in his native Belfast West from 1983 to 1992 and again from 1997 until 2011 before sitting as a TD (Teachta Dála) in the Dáil (Irish parliament) between 2011 and 2020.
Mr Adams led the Sinn Féin delegation during peace talks that eventually brought an end to the Troubles after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
He was detained in the early 1970s when the government in Northern Ireland introduced internment without trial for those suspected of paramilitary involvement.
Mr Adams has consistently denied being a member of the IRA.