Retired farmer James Howard told journalist Charlie Bird he was "100 per cent certain" Beverley Cooper-Flynn had brought him into the CMI personal portfolio investment scheme, Mr Bird said.
If there was any change in Mr Howard's story, it would have been incumbent on RTE to refer to it. He asked Mr Howard to do another TV interview in which he would be identified but did not pressure him. Mr Howard did the interview.
On his second day in the witness box, Mr Bird was referred to the original broadcast on June 19th, 1998. On June 25th, he received a call from a Sunday Independent journalist, Jody Corcoran, who said he knew the identity of the farmer in the broadcast, that it was James Howard and would Mr Bird confirm or deny that. Mr Bird said he laughed at Mr Corcoran and told him he was "not going down that road". Later that day, he got a call from Mr Howard, who was "quite annoyed" and seemed to believe Mr Bird had given his name to the Sunday Independent. He told Mr Howard he had not and was not going to reveal his sources.
On June 28th, 1998, the Sun- day Independent ran an article naming Mr Howard as the farmer who claimed Ms Cooper-Flynn had brought him into the investment scheme. Ms Cooper-Flynn issued a statement denying she had ever met Mr Howard and calling on RTE to confirm Mr Howard appeared on the broadcast or withdraw the allegations about her. She issued another statement the next day.
Mr Bird said he contacted Mr Howard to see if he would "go public". RTE was not going to continue with the story if it was incorrect. Mr Howard said he was 100 per cent certain the TD was the person who brought him into the scheme. On June 30th, Mr Howard did an interview and revealed his identity.
On July 2nd, RTE had received a solicitor's letter on behalf of Ms Cooper-Flynn alleging she had been shamefully treated and would take legal proceedings against RTE and Mr Howard.
Before that, he had asked Mr Howard to try and obtain documents from the bank in regard to his CMI portfolio purchase, Mr Bird said. These showed the name "Deirdre Condon". Mr Bird said that left him totally confused since Ms Cooper-Flynn was claiming Patricia Roche had dealt with Mr Howard's CMI purchase.
RTE had on July 6th offered Ms Cooper-Flynn a television interview. If she had accepted, the interview would have been given maximum exposure.