an appeal over the Moriarty Tribunal's legal costs. The appeal judges awarded Lowry 80% of his costs for the legal battle. That same year, the High Court ruled that the State was not entitled to indemnity and contribution from O’Brien’s telecommunications company regarding any loss that might arise from the granting of the country's second mobile phone licence in 1996. In 2021, the High Court upheld the 2018 ruling after the State attempted to appeal it. Three judges unanimously dismissed the appeal and stated that O’Brien’s telecommunications company was entitled to the legal costs of the appeal. Sam Smyth, a radio show host that aired on one of O’Brien's networks, claimed he was fired as a result of his reporting on the Moriarty Tribunal. Today FM responded to the claim, stating that "the decision was made to address a decline in listenership and was part of an initiative to improve programming quality." The Today FM board supported the decision, which was one of several programming changes made by Willy O'Reilly. Relationship with the media In 2012, O'Brien threatened to sue journalist and broadcaster Vincent Browne over statements in Browne's articles that O'Brien claimed were defamatory. In February 2013, O'Brien sued the Irish Daily Mail for defamation over his numerous appearances in RTÉ news reports on the relief effort after the Haiti earthquake. The court awarded O'Brien €150,000. The case was the first time a journalist had attempted to use the honest opinion defence before a jury at the High Court since the Defamation Act 2009 became law. In August 2015, the editor-in-chief of satirical website Waterford Whispers News, Colm Williamson received a cease and desist order from O'Brien's solicitor to remove a satirical article about O'Brien. Lawyers for O'Brien also demanded that a reprint of the story be removed from Broadsheet.ie. Waterford Whispers News subsequently removed the article. In 2019, O'Brien began an action for defamation against the Sunday Business Post over articles published in the newspaper in March 2015. The articles, which centred around a confidential PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report given to the government in November 2008 on the exposure of Ireland's banks in 2008, identified O'Brien as being among the 22 biggest borrowers from Irish banks in 2008. O'Brien claimed the articles defamed him and injured his reputation and also alleged malicious publication. The jury found in the defendant's favour and Justice Barton dismissed the case with an order