By John Breslin
NEWSPAPER columnist John Waters was yesterday re-instated by The Irish Times after four hours of union-brokered talks and less than 48 hours after he was axed by the paper because the editor believed he challenged her journalistic ethics.The decision to re-instate the outspoken columnist followed a “frank exchange of views” between Mr Waters and editor Geraldine Kennedy.

Over the weekend, the editor moved to minimise Mr Waters’ discomfort by relieving him of “any further necessity to contribute” to The Irish Times. Ms Kennedy, in a letter, informed him he would no longer be working for the paper after he “expressed the view publicly on RTE that I was compromised as editor”.

The spat between Mr Waters and the paper’s management began after one of his columns, questioning payments made to directors, and particularly the extraordinary €100,000-a-year, 12-year golden handcuffs deal with former editor Conor Brady, was spiked. Ms Kennedy argued that it was done for reasons of “libel, accuracy and taste”.

Mr Waters’ article accused the paper’s management of double standards by refusing to reveal details of what the directors of the company had ve been paid.

It is understood the Irish Times board has now agreed, after representations from unions, to reveal details of directors’ remuneration packages and further details of payments agreed with Mr Brady. These will be published later this week.

At yesterday’s meeting, there was a “frank exchange of views” arising from Mr Waters’ comments on RTÉ, according to a statement released by the National Union of Journalists and The Irish Times.

Mr Waters regretted that his use of the word ‘compromised’ in the interview had been taken to apply to the personal or professional integrity of the editor. He said that was not his intention.

Mr Waters acknowledged that Ms Kennedy had always exercised her role as editor in an appropriate manner in accordance with the laws of libel and the requirement to adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and good taste.

He accepted that the editor had applied these criteria to the column submitted by him for publication on November 10.

Ms Kennedy stated that her differences with Mr Waters did not arise from his decision to comment publicly on her editorial judgement but from his comments in the RTÉ interview.

Earlier, Paddy Power opened a book on Mr Waters’ future, 10/11 to stay, 6/1 on a move to the Irish Examiner and 5,000/1 that he would end up working for the Industrial Relations News.