THE SUNDAY TIMES journalist who wrote an article which the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, claims called him a liar told a libel jury yesterday afternoon it was "crystal clear" that Mr Reynolds had misled the Dail.
Mr Alan Ruddock, the then Irish editor of the Sunday Times, said that Mr Reynolds's explanation for the downfall of his government had been "widely rejected" by many senior Irish politicians and the Irish media.
"It appeared to me to be crystal clear that he had misled the Dail during his speech on Tuesday night," Mr Ruddock said.
Under cross examination by Lord Gareth Williams QC, counsel for Mr Reynolds, Mr Ruddock admitted that he had not made "a single note" while preparing his article for November 20th, 1994, and that it was a feature rather than a comment piece.
"I accept that there was opinion in it," Mr Ruddock agreed.
Lord Williams replied: "You admit it is a feature piece, you have just shot yourself in the foot."
Mr Ruddock dismissed defence claims that his article, headlined "Goodbye gombeen man was a "scathing attack" on Mr Reynolds, stating that he hoped it would explain to a British audience why the Irish Government had fallen.
"It is fair to call it a harsh criticism of his conduct. I wasn't attacking Mr Reynolds, I was presenting what had happened," he said.
Asked by Mr James Price QC, counsel for the Sunday Times, whether he agreed with Mr Reynolds's version of events after he had been given the Attorney General Mr Eoghan Fitzsimons's letter, outlining the implications of the Duggan case, Mr Ruddock replied: "I find it peculiar that if you request an urgent report, you make sure you damn well get it... I honestly don't know what happened that night but I find it strange that the one area of events that Mr Fitzsimons chose not to speak about was that night."
Mr John Burns, the Sunday Times Dublin correspondent told the jury that he had only written a paragraph in the "gombeen man" article despite his by line appearing on if, but stated it accorded with his own view of events.
After telling the jury he was not surprised by the article's accusation that Mr Reynolds was "fibbing", Mr Burns added: "It was something that had been said extensively in the Irish newspapers and in the Dail itself by politicians from the Labour party and other opposition parties."
Under cross examination, Mr Burns agreed with Lord Williams that the piece was "wholly, completely and utterly" against Mr Reynolds. "Yes, but that was the way journalists saw it," he said.
Mr Burns accepted that the gombeen man" headline was pretty hard hitting" but told the jury he believed in the context of the article it was "perfectly fair".
The hearing was adjourned until today when it is expected that Mr Fergus Finlay, special adviser to the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, will give evidence for the Sunday Times.