Owen Beattie Solicitors represents alleged ‘GAA Catfish’

A Co Armagh woman who says she has been wrongly identified as the infamous ‘GAA Catfish’ will take legal action against anyone who links her to the fraudster, her solicitor has warned.

Niamh Farrell, from Portadown, has strongly denied claims she was behind fake profiles that targeted GAA figures and others. The 30-year-old has been linked to fake accounts used as part of a ruse known as ‘catfishing’. This refers to the creation of a false online identity designed to draw the target into a romantic relationship or to commit fraud. It is understood Ms Farrell has not been contacted by police in relation to any complaint.

Ms Farrell’s Belfast-based lawyer, Owen Beattie, of Owen Beattie Solicitors, said his client “absolutely denies these spurious allegations”. Mr Beattie, who represents his client in the north, said action will be taken against anyone who links Ms Farrell to the catfish claims.

“Ms Farrell will not hesitate in taking legal action against any individual or organisation attributing any role to her in relation to this matter,” he said. “We will continue to closely monitor any commentary that seeks to attack the good character of our client”.

Earlier this week Ms Farrell claimed in the High Court in Dublin that she has been wrongly identified as the ‘GAA Catfish’. She succeeded in securing a short-term injunction stopping her employer from continuing a disciplinary process against her. Arising from allegations made against her, Ms Farrell is facing a disciplinary process started by Dublin based Coláiste Éanna, the school where she has worked as a music teacher since 2019.

The Co Armagh woman said she has always denied she is the person behind the “GAA catfish”, including to the school principal. In her pleadings Ms Farrell said the “speculation online naming me as the GAA Catfish was, and remains, a source of significant distress to me”.