He was again arrested on 23 December 2010 on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly after his team's Christmas party in Kilkenny city. However, he was never charged by the police, which led to questions about what had actually happened on the night. These were answered in August 2011 when the Irish Sun newspaper printed an apology to Howlett. In their apology, they admitted numerous factual errors in their reporting on the incident and admitted that it was another person and not Doug Howlett involved in the incident, in which a Munster fan was injured. Doug Howlett is the patron of his own charity and it is believed that the Irish Sun made a contribution to this charity in compensation.