A restaurateur has said a claim in the Farmer's Journal that he had used "cheap, imported beef" was akin to saying he sold drugs.
Mr Jim Tynan, who runs the Food & Kitchen Hall in Portlaoise, made the statement when giving evidence in a libel case he is taking against the newspaper.
The Journal denied the libel claim at Portlaoise Circuit Court yesterday and said a retraction it printed a week after the original article was sufficient to assuage Mr Tynan's worries.
Mr Tynan was not happy with this apology.
The article on November 24th, 2001 - which followed an interview by the paper's deputy editor, Mr John Shirley, at Mr Tynan's restaurant - was part of a feature on Hereford prime beef.
In it, Mr Tynan was quoted as praising Hereford prime beef, and said he had previously returned beef to producers if he found it too tough or not suitable for serving to his customers.
When the article appeared, it was reported that Mr Tynan had returned cheap, imported beef on occasions in the past, but he was adamant he had never used cheap or imported beef in his business.
He said such a claim would lower his standing in the speciality food sector, and with his customers. When he read the article, he said he felt sick and started to shake all over.
The Farmer's Journal published a retraction the following week, in which Mr Shirley said he had reached the "totally wrong conclusion" in his interview with Mr Tynan.
He also wrote: "I accept they never used imported beef", and said to do so would be "alien to the ethos" of the restaurant.
He accepted that the paper had not used the wording of a clarification provided by Mr Tynan's solicitor. His intention was to show Mr Tynan, and Hereford prime beef, in a good light.
The interview was conducted when Mr Shirley called to Mr Tynan's premises to pick up samples of Hereford prime beef which had been left there for him by producers.
Mr Rory de Bruir, for Mr Tynan, said the interview had been "totally and utterly garbled" by Mr Shirley.
Counsel for the Farmer's Journal, Mr Bernard Dunleavy, said the paper had made immediate effort to correct the mistake.
Judge Marian Reynolds Buckley will announce her verdict on Wednesday, February 16th.