THE PRESS OMBUDSMAN John Horgan is to give evidence at the Leveson inquiry into media ethics in the UK this week.

Professor Horgan is due to give evidence in London on Friday as the inquiry begins its fourth module next week.

Having already heard evidence from celebrities and members of the public, the media, and politicians the inquiry will now examine the future of press regulation in Britain.

Lord Justice Brian Leveson will also hear from the chair of the UK’s Press Complaints Commission Lord Hunt and members of the National Union of Journalists’ ethics council.

Lord Hunt has already held meetings with the Press Council chairman Dáithí O Ceallaigh and the Press Ombudsman amid positive comments about the Irish system of press regulation at the inquiry which was set up following the phone hacking scandal.

The two oversight bodies were set up in Ireland in 2008 and are intended to be independent of government and media dealing with complaints from the public about the press free-of-charge.

Speaking at the launch of its annual report recently, O Ceallaigh pointed out that the Irish model of press regulation had been praised across the water.

“Lord Leveson himself, and a number of witnesses at his enquiry, have already publicly expressed their interest in the origins, structures and functions of the Press Council of Ireland and the Press Ombudsman,” he said.

At the launch of that report, Communication Minister Pat Rabbitte said that he did not believe that the “odious practices” of the British media that have been exposed by the Leveson inquiry are present in Ireland.

‘Odious practices’ exposed by Leveson not present in Ireland – Rabbitte

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