Lawyers for the Tanaiste's special adviser, Mr Fergus Finlay, are considering the legal implications of an RTE report last Friday that he had "chickened out" of giving evidence in the libel case being taken by Mr Albert Reynolds, against the Sunday Times in the High Court in London, Geraldine Kennedy reports.
Mr Finlay said yesterday that he had left the court because lawyers for the Sunday Times told him his evidence was no longer required. "I was prepared at all times to give evidence," he added.
The lawyers for the Sunday Times stated that they did not act for Mr Finlay but felt it right to point out that the allegation was entirely untrue and seriously damaging and defamatory of him.
"We are not at liberty whilst the case is proceeding to inform you why Mr Finlay was not called upon to give evidence," the newspaper's lawyers said, "but we can assure you that the decision was made by the lawyers for purely legal reasons and that there is no question of Mr Finlay having chickened out or anything of the sort."