A retired farmer has told the High Court that he was given an indemnity by RTE covering any damages which might be awarded to the Fianna Fail TD, Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn, in her action alleging libel.
Mr James Howard (69), of Wheaton Hall, Drogheda, said the indemnity was given to his solicitor in October 1998 after Mr Howard appeared on television with an RTE journalist, Charlie Bird, and made a number of allegations against Ms Cooper-Flynn, a former financial adviser with National Irish Bank (NIB).
He said RTE had initially, in July that year, refused to give him such an indemnity. He agreed with Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Ms Cooper-Flynn, that the indemnity covered any damages that might be awarded to the TD against him and also covered all his legal costs.
Yesterday was the 16th day of the action in which the Co Mayo TD is alleging she was libelled in a number of broadcasts in the summer of 1998. The action is against RTE, Mr Bird and Mr Howard. Ms Cooper-Flynn has denied ever having met Mr Howard or selling him a CMI Personal Portfolio.
Mr Howard has claimed he purchased the policy for £83,000 from Ms Cooper-Flynn with undeclared money held by him in an NIB account.
Yesterday Mr Howard agreed with Mr Cooney that, irrespective of the outcome of the current proceedings, he would walk away without having to pay a penny as a result of the indemnity.
He denied that, in return for this, he was to maintain his assertion that it was Ms Cooper-Flynn who sold him the policy and to keep denying that it was another NIB employee, Ms Patricia Roche, who sold it to him. This was not the case, he said. He was in court to tell the truth.
"Miss Beverley Cooper-Flynn was the person that sold me the policy, and I have no doubt about that," he declared.
In 1994 he spoke to Gary Connolly of the financial services division of NIB who said the reason for the kind of returns he was receiving on his CMI policy was that they were minding his money for him from the Revenue and payment had to be made to the person who brought him into the scheme, he said.
Mr Cooney suggested that this could not be true, that Mr Connolly was not with the financial services division in 1994 but joined only in 1995.
When he said Mr Howard's answer was a fabrication as part of his vendetta against NIB and the people who worked there, Mr Howard said he was acting on the advice given by the bank, and by Ms Cooper-Flynn.
Mr Howard concluded his evidence yesterday, and the hearing was adjourned until Tuesday. The case is expected to continue for two more weeks.