Michelle O'Neill awarded no damages over kennel remark

Michelle O'Neill took a former DUP councillor to the High Court over an "offensive and misogynistic" remark

Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill will not receive any payout after a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillor said she would be "put back in her kennel".

John Carson posted the comment on social media in April 2021.

He later apologised but Ms O'Neill took him to court, arguing the insult was defamatory and misogynistic.

She won her case in May but on Tuesday a High Court judge ruled the remark was not defamatory as it "had no adverse impact on Ms O'Neill's reputation".

Master Bell ruled that although Mr Carson's comments were abusive, highly offensive and misogynistic, they fell short of being defamatory.

The judge explained that public perceptions of Ms O'Neill had not been affected by Mr Carson's insult, adding that she was a political "star" while the former DUP councillor had lost his position and was now a political non-entity.

"In the light of this conclusion I am obliged to rule that no award of damages is payable to Ms O'Neill in respect of it," Master Bell told the court.

However, the judge stressed that the decision should not be seen as a victory for the former DUP councillor who is now facing a legal bill in excess of £12,000 which could cost him all his savings and possibly his home.

The libel case was initiated by Ms O'Neill after Mr Carson posted the offending remark during a Facebook discussion about the DUP leadership contest in April 2021.

In response to a photograph of Ms O'Neill, who was deputy first minister of Northern Ireland at that time, the DUP man wrote: "She will be put back in her kennel."

A local government standards watchdog investigated and determined that his remarks were unreasonable and misogynistic.

Mr Carson, who represented the Ballymena area on Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, was later suspended as a councillor for three months.

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During her libel case earlier this year Ms O'Neill's lawyers argued that the kennel remark was misogynistic and defamatory and because it characterised her as "a subservient and incompetent female politician".

In his ruling on Tuesday, Master Bell said: "This is classic misogynistic abuse."

But after citing a series of newspaper headlines about Facebook remark, he concluded: "It has had no adverse impact on Ms O'Neill's reputation, either in the local community or internationally."

Comparing the two parties in the case, the judge pointed out that the Sinn Féin deputy leader was a politician on the national and international stage, while the former councillor was political non-entity.

"In their respective careers therefore, Ms O'Neill is a star in the political firmament at which Mr Carson can only gaze upon from his earthbound location."

The judge added that in his view "no president or prime minister, nor any member of the public, will think of her reputation in reduced terms as a result [of Mr Carson's remark"].

He added that it was a minor case which should never have reached the High Court.

He said that when court time was taken up with "disputes between politicians involving insults which one imagines are sometimes heard in school playgrounds" it would cause delays for other "serious cases".

Both sides were ordered to pay their own legal fees, with the court hearing that Ms O'Neill costs amounted to £12,999, while Mr Carson's were £12,697.

The judge said Mr Carson has paid a heavy price for the "stupid and offensive" remark, including the loss of his political career and being faced with a high legal bill which "more than exceeds all the savings he has".

He added that if Mr Carson's solicitor and barrister pursue him for their costs, "he is likely to lose his house".