Trial by media was 'like rape' says Irish minister

Martin Cullen is the Irish minister for the arts An Irish government minister has said his "horrendous" trial-by-media was like being raped on a daily basis. Martin Cullen, minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism was falsely accused of having an affair with Waterford business woman, Monica Leech. He said defamatory coverage by some sections of the media of groundless allegations almost destroyed his life. "It was like waking up every morning and being raped," he told a conference on defamation law in Dublin this week. Nothing could ever undo the damage of the lies written against him, he said. His children had suffered "horrendous bullying" and had been forced to change schools three times. Destructive Mr Cullen said his sons had "the living daylights" beaten out of them for defending their father, he said. One journalist had bullied his way into the family home when his 11-year-old daughter was there alone and got her to phone his ex-wife on her mobile. Mr Cullen said a Bebo site dedicated to him got one million hits. He could not bring himself to view it, he said. Mr Cullen said the story about him and Ms Leech had been perpetuated with a single photograph. This purported to show him in a dress suit and Ms Leech in evening wear going to a function. However, the photo had been doctored because in the original Ms Leech's husband was standing behind her and Brian Cowen also appeared. "I am a public figure and I accept what goes with that but the real impact, the hard core destructive impact, is on the family, the immediate family and I saw that at first hand," he said. Mr Cullen said the rule of thumb among politicians was that you couldn't survive if you appeared on the front of the Sunday newspapers for three weeks running. Yet he had spent 13 weeks in a row on the front pages. No amount of apologies or money could undo that damage, he said