Barrister Louis Blom-Cooper has settled in a libel action brought against him by Birmingham six pair Hugh Callaghan and Gerry Hunter at the Dublin High Court. Hunter and Callaghan claimed that a 1997 pamphlet by Blom-Cooper, The Birmingham Six and Other Cases, had implied that they could be guilty of carryimg out the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, in which 21 people were killed.

Blom-Cooper has apologised for any “unintended suggestion” of guilt. Other elements of the settlement cannot be revealed.

Ireland has one of the most expensive libel jurisdictions in Europe.