Defamation… For Navan and Meath county councillor, Wayne Forde.
Fri 12 Dec 2025, 2:13 PM
Fri 12 Dec 2025, 2:17 PM
A Navan Sinn Féin councillor has been awarded €50,000 in damages after a former 51 year old councillor claimed he threatened to arrange a punishment beating by his “IRA comrades”.
Navan Sinn Féin Councillor Eddie Fennessy took legal action against former independent councillor Wayne Forde at Trim Circuit Court on 11th December. Mr Forde was representing himself in court.
Cllr Fennessy became a councillor in September 2018 after he was co-opted following the passing of Cllr Joe Reilly earlier that year. Since then he has been re-elected to Meath County Council twice and was elected mayor of Navan three years in a row from 2022 to June 2025. Cllr Fennessy waived his right of anonymity to allow the media to report on the case without restriction.
Barrister David Lennon, counsel of Mr Fennessy, told the court Mr Forde made several allegations on Facebook and TikTok and by email from November 2023 to 10th May last year in the run up to the 2024 Local Elections. This included an allegation that Mr Fennessy threatened to arrange a punishment beating by his “IRA comrades” and the petrol bombing of his home.
The first allegation made on a post published to Facebook on 24th November 2023 claimed Mr Fennessy was receiving €52,000 a year. He said this was according to figures published by the Meath Chronicle but the real figures published, which are publicly available and still shown on the Meath Chronicle website, are €42,273.95.
The court heard Mr Forde made a post three days later alleging he received threats of a punishment beating from the councillor who said “you don’t f**k with me and get away with it”.
Action… Cllr Eddie FennessyPhoto: David Mullen/www.cyberimages.net
Photo by
David Mullen
On 4th January last year Mr Forde posted “(Mr Fennessy) had the gall” to threaten him with a punishment beating with his “IRA comrades”. Mr Forde told the court these threats made him fear for his life and “especially my children”.
Mr Fennessy told the court this relates to an incident in November at Supervalu, Trim Road Navan, where Mr Forde “came out of nowhere ranting and raving about expenses”.
Mr Fennessy said it was “preposterous” he would be responsible for organising punishment beatings. He told the court Sinn Féin is “easy pickings” for these kinds of allegations because of its history from 40 to 50 years ago but it was not the history of the party since he joined.
The councillor said the allegations are “completely baseless and untrue” and it “seems to me he was trying to damage my reputation on the run up to the election”. He told the court that people on the street would mention the posts to his wife and he took legal action to make the allegations stop.
On 8th February Mr Forde made a post with an image of a solicitor’s letter on 2nd February which included a clearly visible address of Mr Forde.
On 22nd March he later emailed the Data Protection Commission alleging that on Mr Fennessy’s ‘Lord Mayor’s’ website he displayed an image of Mr Forde and the letter he previously showed online saying he was suing Mr Forde for defamation. This email was later forwarded to the Minister for Justice, two gardaí, Meath Sinn Féin TDs and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. Mr Fennessy told the court he has no involvement in this website and it is a community page run by other people. He also told the court the correct title was Mayor of Navan, not Lord Mayor which is used for mayors of cities.
On 10th May last year, four weeks before the local elections, Mr Forde uploaded a TikTok video where he repeated that he was threatened with a punishment beating and a threat to his life was made. Mr Fennessy told the court the video was sent to members of his election team.
Mr Forde claimed he never mentioned Eddie Fennessy’s name. During cross examination he suggested one or more of the posts were doctored by adding the letters EF.
Mr Lennon put it to Mr Forde during cross examination that he was a “fantasist and a liar” and said “there is very little of what you are doing that is making sense to me”.
Judge Mary O’Malley Costello said Mr Forde is “somewhat of a fantasist” and that Cllr Fennessy is “an upstanding member of the public”. Judge Costello said she found no truth in Mr Forde’s claims against him.
The judge said the incorrect figures may have been a misunderstanding and would not require a large compensation but the other matters and allegations were at the highest level of defamatory. The judge said it is “really dreadful” to be accused of being involved in criminal organisations or acts “in the present climate”. “There’s no smoke without fire, that’s the way people think”.
The judge made an order directing Mr Forde to pay €50,000 in damages to Mr Fennessy for defaming him. A restraining order was imposed on Mr Forde restricting him from defaming or disparaging Mr Fennessy in the future. The judge also advised Mr Forde to “stay off social media cause it’s not of any benefit to you”.
After hearing the verdict Mr Forde said the damages didn’t take into account his family and the judge said it did and she should have made him pay €100,000.
Fri 12 Dec 2025, 2:13 PM
Fri 12 Dec 2025, 2:17 PM
