Jury urged to disregard personalities in TD trial

Submissions were completed today in the libel case Fianna Fáil TD Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn is taking against RTÉ.

High Court president Mr Justice Morris instructed the jury to weigh up the case in accordance with the evidence and to disregard personalities. The jury is to return tomorrow to begin its deliberations.

Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn

Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Ms Cooper-Flynn, in his closing address said the jury had to assess the credibility of each witness, adding that three of these witnesses are suing NIB because they allege they were wrongly advised.

All these witnesses are with the same Dublin firm of solicitors which means there is bound to be a degree of co-ordination amongst them, he said.

His client, Mr Cooney said, a single individual, was pitted against the State's most powerful organisation which had treated her with "arrogant contempt".

A falsehood was a the centre of the allegations made in the RTÉ programme about her, Mr Cooney said. He said Mr Charlie Bird had failed to apply fairness, impartiality and objectivity in his almost "primeval desire to get the scalp of Ms Cooper-Flynn under his belt".

He suggested Mr Howard, in his allegations, had singled out Ms Cooper-Flynn from the NIB employees because of her name and her family.

He said Mr Howard had reason and motivation to make the allegations. When Mr Howard visited the NIB bank in 1998, part of his reason was to establish if the bank would pay for some of his tax being sought by the Revenue.

This was, said Mr Cooney, an attempt to strong-arm the bank to pay his tax liability. He said Mr Howard had made a specific threat to go public if the bank did not meet his demands and, when it did not, he went public.

Mr Cooney said the 47 CMI Personal Portfolios sold by Ms Cooper-Flynn all had one thing in common - the signature of Ms Cooper-Flynn. He said the CMI policy for Mr Howard had the signature of Ms Patricia Howard.

This coupled with independent documentary evidence established - not just beyond reasonable probability but on any rational grounds - that Ms Cooper-Flynn is correct in saying she never dealt with Mr Howard and he is wrong, said Mr Cooney.

Ms Cooper-Flynn claims she was libelled in broadcasts on RTÉ between June 19th 1998 and July 1st 1998 and words used on the programme claimed she had instigated a scheme, the object of which was the evasion of the lawful payment of tax.