Farmer says he did not confuse two NIB women employees

A major conflict now exists between retired Co Meath farmer Mr James Howard, and Fianna Fail TD Ms Beverley CooperFlynn over the controversial Clerical Medical Insurance scheme run by National Irish Bank.

A family spokesman for Mr Howard said yesterday that it was "silly to suggest" that he would mix up Ms Cooper-Flynn with Ms Patricia Roche, another employee of NIB. The spokesman said Mr Howard was investigating his records and would make a further statement in a couple of days. He had met Ms Roche at his family farm to discuss a capital acquisitions tax policy and his son, John, was there at the time.

Ms Roche would make no comment on a report in yesterday's Sunday Independent which identified her as the employee who sold the CMI product to Mr Howard in 1993. A spokesman for NIB also declined to comment.

Ms Roche, who lives in Dublin, was appointed financial services manager in NIB in October 1991. She had previously worked in Guinness Mahon bank as senior investment adviser with responsibility for managing private investment portfolios. She also worked as a portfolio manager in Davy stockbrokers from 1988.

The new claim that Ms Roche sold the CMI product to the Co Meath farmer reinforces the conflict between Mr Howard's allegations and Ms Cooper-Flynn's rebuttal of them. Ms Cooper-Flynn instructed her solicitors last week to institute legal proceedings against RTE and Mr Howard. She has asked for a personal apology to be read out on the 6 p.m. news by reporter Charlie Bird today. The suggestion that another woman employed by NIB, not Ms Cooper-Flynn, sold the CMI investment product to Mr Howard in 1993 came in a statement from the Fianna Fail TD last week. In her third statement in less than a week strenuously rejecting Mr Howard's allegations, Ms Cooper-Flynn said that in 1993, she was not working for NIB in the area where Mr Howard then lived.

"The records of NIB show that in 1993 Mr Howard purchased a CMI product. Those records also show that another employee of NIB sold the product to Mr Howard and was paid commission for doing so. I have received written confirmation from NIB today that Mr Howard's file within NIB contains no reference whatsoever to me," Ms Cooper-Flynn stated.

Despite these developments, the family spokesman for Mr Howard said "he stands over everything he has said. That's 100 per cent. He is trying to be as honest as possible. He is investigating his records and will say things in a few days. He doesn't want to come out with a mistake."

Ms Cooper-Flynn could not be contacted yesterday.