Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists with overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of union activities, organisation and financial affairs in Ireland North and South at the time of giving evidence. He was also a member of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Executive Council and of the Press Council of Ireland's finance and administrative committee. Offered the Inquiry a brief history of recent legal debates on the press in Ireland including proposals for a draconian privacy bill. Told the Inquiry that the UK obsession with editors was not mirrored in Ireland.
In 2012, as Treasury Solicitor, the Government's principal legal official, he gave written evidence to the Inquiry. At the time of News Corporation's BskyB bid, Sir Paul's advice had been sought on comments made about the bid by Vince Cable, the then Secretary of State for Business. Sir Paul told the Leveson Inquiry that he had informed the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, that in his view Cable's comments could put his impartiality in question and that Cable's duties in the matter should therefore be transferred to another Secretary of State. Sir Paul died in February 2018.
