The editor of an Irish Sunday newspaper said she was “still as idealistic” as the day she started journalism even thought her business editor was sacked recently in questionable circumstances. 

In the January edition of the Dubliner magazine Noirin Hegarty, editor of the Sunday Tribune,
said “I love what we do at the Sunday Tribune. I’m still as idealistic
as the day I started in journalism and I believe in its role as the
fourth estate”.

Asked how she can remain idealistic after the questionable sacking of
her former business editor, Hegarty said “Thank you for your interest
in the Sunday Tribune. This is an internal company matter bound
by a confidentiality agreement. It is more complicated than it appears
and I won’t be commenting further”.

The newspaper’s managing director, Michael Roche, sacked the former Tribune business
editor, Richard Delevan, in November the day after the publication of
an article about the house of a Dublin estate agent being on the market
for over a year. Hegarty was out of the office at the time.

The article in the business section was published along with a
photograph of estate agent Ken MacDonald. It read: “Here’s a man who
can’t be accused of talking down the property market: auctioneer Ken
MacDonald of Hooke & MacDonald has had his Blackrock bungalow on
the market for 13 months… and he hasn’t budged an inch on the 2.4m
asking price, so he can’t be accused of adding to the nearly 4 percent drop in
house prices this year”.

The article, which had no byline, contained an ending hat tip to two Irish blogs, but the Tribune
independently verified the facts of the story. The story came at the
end of a year that saw economists and PR men in Ireland accusing
elements of the media of “trying to talk us into a recession”.

MacDonald reportedly wrote to the paper’s managing director the next day. According to the Irish edition if the Sunday Times the email said “Considering the loyalty I have shown to the Tribune
over a very long period it reflects very poorly on your own sense of
loyalty and good sense. As far as the future is concerned between us it
is clear to see that the Tribune do not value or respect the
relationship in any meaningful way”.

MacDonald was also quoted in the Irish Times as saying the article was highly personalised, riddled with untruths, and a “massive invasion of my privacy”.

Reports also say that management were previously unhappy with Delevan,
he was told shortly before his sacking that he was to be moved from his
role as business editor to edit the newspaper’s website, tribune.ie.
Delevan, a New Yorker and former PR man, is known for his straight
talking and was not one to shy away from negative coverage of Irish
business.

Hegarty’s comments on being idealistic as the day she started and
believing in its role as the fourth estate were published in the ‘work’
section of the regular ‘My Dublin’ feature in the Dubliner magazine.
She added: “Working every weekend is an occupational hazard and it’s
pretty anti-social. As everybody else is winding down on a Friday
afternoon, we are gearing up. But there’s no better feeling than going
home exhausted on a Saturday night knowing that you’ve done your best
and your newspaper will enlighten, inform and entertain people the next
morning”.

Former Tribune columnist Bill Tyson resigned as a sign of solidarity after the sacking, but besides stories in the Irish Times and the Sunday Times there has been relatively little news or comment on the story.

The loss-making Sunday Tribune is understood to be controlled by
Independent News & Media via a 29.9 percent ownership and a series
of loans that are now amount to over €13m.

Both Hegarty and Delevan were given an opportunity to comment on a draft of the above story.

MORE: Delevan dubbed a ‘dead man walking’ prior to dismissal