RTÉ journalist Mr Charlie Bird said he did his "damnedest" to contact Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn before airing broadcasts she claims libelled her, the High Court heard this afternoon.
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Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn
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He said he telephoned her twice before driving to a Cavan hotel to deliver a letter containing the allegations which were later broadcast on RTÉ.
Mr Bird, who is being sued by Ms Cooper-Flynn, took the stand today – the 22nd day of the libel trial.
He said Ms Cooper-Flynn "declined to answer" questions regarding her involvement in the CMI personal portfolio when he first contacted her and told him during a subsequent telephone conversation to “do whatever you have to do and I’ll do what I have to do”.
However, Mr Bird said he drove the two-and-a-half hour journey to the Slieve Russell hotel in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, because it was “right to do it – to give her every opportunity to respond to what was being said”.
He said he hadn’t tried to victimise Ms Cooper-Flynn on account of her being a politician and said: “it’s not my function as a journalist. It’s not what I’ve been about for 20 years – to get at anybody”.
However, he accepted the news value of her part in the story for three reasons. She was "a member of parliament, she put herself forward for election and she was a member of the Public Accounts Committee”, he told the court.
But, he added, “this story came to us. I didn’t set out to look for Beverley Cooper-Flynn”.
Earlier today Mr Bird told the court that initially he was investigating information that National Irish bank, (NIB), had been "tricking about and skimming off money" via the CMI personal portfolio. He said that in the first RTÉ broadcast regarding CMI on January 23rd 1998, Ms Cooper-Flynn was not mentioned.
He said he had received information that NIB were running "a poor man's Ansbacher" and had been doing so since the 1980's.
He also said he initially contacted Ms Cooper-Flynn in order to question her about her involvement in CMI products and about a trip to Australia she had "won or received" from CMI.
However, Mr Bird, who described himself as the "correspondent for disaster", said that following a telephone call from the late Mr Gerry Treanor of Virginia, Co Cavan in May 1997 he came in contact with sources who claimed that Ms Cooper-Flynn had sold them CMI products.
Mr Bird said he met retired farmer Mr James Howard on June 16th 1998 in a car park outside a pub in Gormanstown in County Meath. Mr Howard, who told Mr Bird he was a diabetic and received no pension, said Ms Cooper-Flynn brought him into the CMI personal portfolio scheme.
He told Mr Bird that he had "never declared the income" in the scheme. And when he began to have qualms about it Ms Cooper-Flynn told him there was "no need to give the Government 15 per cent".
Ms Cooper-Flynn, Fianna Fáil TD for Mayo, is alleging libel against RTÉ, Mr Bird and retired farmer, Mr James Howard, Wheaton Hall, Drogheda, Co Louth.
She claims she was libelled in broadcasts in June and July 1998, and words used meant she had instigated a scheme intended as a means to evade the lawful payment of tax. The defence denies libel.
The case continues tomorrow.